For those keeping score, it is now
W -1, L – 0, D – 1
with wookiees beating the Sith Order.
How do we explain it, Mike?
And should we tell Devin that Gabriel now runs part of the galaxy?
Meet Tarkabbuk
16
Tag Archives: Star Wars
The Old Republic, or, Slade Will Be Excited
The Bioware/Star Wars MMO is official. Slade, you were right. But I’m excited, too. It seems that they are actually thinking about storyline.
One of the more difficult challenges is finding a way to highlight the power and prestige of a veteran Jedi without embracing a stylish flair that’s completely at odds with the Jedi mentality.
Beautiful prose.
Marc Ecko is a Star Wars Nerd (or at least wants to make money off of them)
Marc Ecko, purveyor of all things hip and/or rhino-related, has come out with a new branch of his clothing line:
Click here to see more.
My thoughts? Well, for the stormtrooper hoodie, let’s do a comparison:
$98
$10 Wal-Mart
$0.99 (Also from Wal-Mart)
Total cost: $10.99 vs. $98
And yet in both scenarios, you look like a doofus.
But the Mandalorian hoodie? I would walk up to the florist, buy flowers for my wife, and ask, “Will they survive transport? They’re no good to me dead.”
My wife wants this one:
but I told her to hold out for it in pink. And not $98.
This one = what?
It’s a trap!
First, let me lull you in by talking about Star Wars: Force Unleashed or the Apprentice or Darth Vader or any number of search keywords.
Hey, I could even put up a Star Wars parody for Mike:
But here’s the deal:
You may have noticed a certain site, lorrd.com (please don’t visit there), takes my articles and posts them on their own site. It seems to be any time that I mention Star Wars, like from this screenshot:
Now, I understand the occasional picture rip. Yes, it does slow down a person’s server, but with Google it makes it really easy for people to just snag a URL.
But to copy an entire article? Not cool.
So, here’s the experiment. I looked up lorrd.com to see who owns it:
Ehsan Ahmad Rehan
G8 Model Town
Lahore
Punjab
042
PK
I removed his e-mail and phone number to give him another chance to correct the situation. I have e-mailed him.
I also commented on one of the sites:
Now comes the experiment: will lorrd.com automatically rip this article and put it on theirs? I’m curious.
A theme that makes me cry
Scroll until you find your appropriate portion.
The Star Wars Portion
First, every single time I watch A New Hope, I tear up at The Force theme, the song that plays right when Luke screams, “No!” and starts firing randomly after the Kenobi/Vader duel. Every time.
I finished Force Unleashed today. There are some moments with the Apprentice theme that the same feelings occur. It does capture the Star Wars mood. And a battle damaged Vader versus the Apprentice, with Apprentice screaming, “You should have killed me when you had the chance!” as you are locking Wii Remotes quickly and savagely to push Vader back – yeah, fanboy moments galore (ever want to throw a squad of stormtroopers into a test-firing Death Star chamber?). Nice job on fanboy moments, LucasArts…now to make a classic game. We’ll see about replay value. It’s pretty much paced like a movie.
Today was the funeral for an old student from our junior high and on Sunday I have the funeral for my friend Chuck. If you see me in person and wonder if my heart is worn out, it is. Today was a good day for Star Wars. (On that topic – when are we meeting, paper and pencil friends? (Non-gamers have now assumed that I make origami companions.))
The “Happy Tech Could Help” Portion
Hey, the message from Renaissance Bible Church is up. We put it up earlier this week, but I got distracted by a Legend of Zelda theme that burned my brain. Check out their podcast for the message. Some context: the local church body that isn’t connected to Wachovia is connected to Lehman Brothers, so Matthew 6 is kinda gutsy and needed. He’ll mention how a “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” mentality is like telling someone to not think of something: they automatically think of that unwanted thing. To demonstrate, he mentions some “meal” involving bacon, syrup, and I’m assuming a defibrillator. For my non-Southern readers, substitute a steak (or, in my case, a toss up between sashimi and a Hot Pocket (although the Pillsbury Toaster Strudels bring back good memories)(Did I mention that I lost 10 pounds unintentionally using Wii Fit?)).
The Baked Goods Portion
Really, you should check out that Toaster Strudel website. Flaky crust Flash player hotspots. Peter laughs then cries.
The Proud Father Portion
My oldest got complimented in pre-school today. The teacher sat my wife down to tell her that my oldest is very artistically advanced. Woo! My daughter also has made up a word. To remember which feet her shoes go on, she calls them a backwards butterfly. Her word for that?
doval (n) – DOH-val a backwards butterfly; usage – “To remember which shoes go on which feet, ask yourself: Does this look like a doval?”
The first time she said it I thought she said dovin basal. (Refer back to The Star Wars Portion.)
The “Okay, So I’m Not Quite So Jaded, Just Cautious” Section
I went back to read my reviews of Obama’s Audacity of Hope (Review 1, 2, and 3) Even then I was jaded about this election, it was just in haiku form.
I remember enjoying the book, for the most part, but finding some key parts that bugged me. Check out the 1, 2, and 3 links for more detail. His peer evaluations for teachers has some flaws and he does clump in National Right to Life with the NRA, which makes me kinda cringe. I do (non-sarcastically) like Obama’s megalomania quote.
Innocent blood and a distaste for extremes: I wish we could take an average of the two parties. My big issue is abortion, plain and simple. It’s like a William Wilberforce abolitionist issue with me. Where were the slaveholder’s rights? Sometimes we have to infringe when it’s life-death issues. This is not a Republican/Democrat thing, because you can bet if Giuliani (or, my goodness, Bob Packwood) was the Republican option, I would not stick with party ties. Being a father of a daughter born a month early and the brother-in-law to a guy born two months early, we must be very cautious as to when we determine a person is a person. Yes, I agree with Obama that we need to increase the Family and Medical Leave Act to help with the financial burden of having a child. (Although I have more than one co-worker who is spending way too much money to adopt a child…there’s a disconnect.) Something that I think is forgotten is that rich women have abortions, too.
Check out my good friend from college (Mike, you’ll want to click) who just got accepted to be an adoptive parent.
I’m also a big proponent of feeding the poor (taking care of widows and orphans and all that). The government and big business do not have a good track record with this, both Democrat and Republican. This is why two of my mentors, Randy Alcorn and Don Miller, are sometimes at odds. (Although now seeing Donald Miller’s “Mentoring For President ’08″, I dig Don even more.)(To add info that Don Miller doesn’t have is that McCain goes to North Phoenix Baptist. I can’t see into either candidate’s heart, though.)
Check the voting records for Obama and McCain for more details.
Check out Alcorn’s and Miller’s blogs for great insights from great writers.
And continue to be annoyed by Internet rumors that smear and/or relate to how Bill Gates will pay me a million dollars for forwarding that e-mail.
Editor’s note: Can anyone do a word count? I may have rambled more than Slade rambling about Shaq. (Messing with you, fool. CAN YOU DIG IT?!)
On the diversions of Devin and candidate name recognition
Here’s the larger size for printing:
Droids vote poster
Rachel, meet Sauron. Sauron, Rachel. Now come up with a fruit that starts with the same letter as your name. I’ll start. Booyor…Bananas
And yes…still there.
For Jeremy…Two words: Trajan Pro
Part the first, in which I detail a ruing appetizer
I decided to do some campaigning of my own:
My daughters and I had so much fun putting these up, we shared the love:
Shhh. Don’t tell them we did it.
New tag.
Brown Squadron, here are some Ruing Resources:
Sauron Poster
Palpatine Poster
Hey…has anyone else seen the keyed parent controls on new Fords?
Force Unleashed Fanboy Moment for Today
House Rules: Star Wars Saga Edition – Force Grip
House rules for the Star Wars Saga Edition Role-playing game:
Force Grip (Force Power)
You use the Force to choke or crush your enemy. Time: Standard action. Target: One target within 6 squares or within line of sight.
Make a Use the Force check: The result of the check determines the effect when compared to the target’s Will Defense and Fortitude Defense, if any:
Below the target’s Will Defense: No effect.
At the target’s Will Defense or higher: The target takes 2d6 points of damage.
At or exceeds the target’s Fortitude Defense e: the target can take only a standard action.
Special: You may maintain your concentration on the targeted creature to continue damaging it from round to round. Maintaining the Force grip is a standard action, and you must make a new Use the Force check each round.
You can spend a Force Point to deal an additional 2d6 points of damage with your Force grip.
Would it count as A or B?
Recently there was an article by Clive Thompson in Wired about how elections are very much like a video game, with certain rules and even legitimizing the slandering-pandering. The part I really dug (because I’m not a fan of non-representative candidates trash talking) was addressing people’s concerns about the electoral college. If we take it out, it would be like changing the damage modifiers for Force Lightning. It might totally make the game unbalanced. (Although if we were in a Republic of Sean or Benevolent Dictatorship of Devinistan we could craft some sufficient house rules.)
Favorite quote? “Democracy needs a patch.”
But if Election ’08 really is a game, I want to trade mine in at Bookman’s for the next New Jedi Order book.
If you haven’t already, check out the celebrations of Gabe’s birthday around the world.
Fanboy Moments for Today
1. Phoenix Mars Lander talks like a pirate
2. Lapti Nek playing over the speakers at a Nar Shadaa cantina in Force Unleashed. (And letting me now wear a Correllian flight suit as my outfit.)
Why I’m glad Force Unleashed is not 1:1 motion sensitive
Why are you waving you hand around like that? What, you think you’re some kind of Jedi or something?
We’re not Jedi.
Nor are most Star Wars fans trained/coordinated enough to hang with another Force user in combat. The result of 1:1 would be even more flailing/a wagglefest (wagglefest being IGN’s word, even though they had a lot of fun. I agree that the camera and graphics are annoying, but the controls and immersion are awesome and make up for the shortfalls for me. And the storyline is great Star Wars, as mentioned before.).
The controls definitely do not feel limited. I can chain together combos at will, mixing in Force powers to spice it up/advance subplots I write in my head. It feels a lot like the combat from Jedi Academy and I’m okay with that. (I liked it.)(Jedi Academy was released on Sept. 16? Interesting.)
If you’re one of my graphic design/typography friends, though, you won’t like the instruction manual. No grammar errors upon first glance, but what caught my attention was that they printed all of the screenshots at too dark of a contrast. Many times it’s just a black box with a bright line (lightsaber) in the middle.
These are just some additions to my first impressions as I sit at work. Waiting.
Today is Vans day. I have a picture of the A-Team vehicle attached to my lanyard. Perhaps not the initial intent of the spirit day.
Funny librarian patron stories real quick:
- A student walked up to me today, no introduction, just, “If you have a problem, and if you can find them, maybe you can call…”
- A couple of days ago a student walked up to the desk wearing the inner workings of a wall clock and clock hands on a giant chain. I told him it was awesome, since it still kept time. I also told him he couldn’t be late to anything. This is a continuation of junior high library fashion.
Force Unleashed First Thoughts
On this, our 1,112th post, you may be surprised that I’m talking about Star Wars.
For my non-Star Wars readers, you should know that when I tried to print author photos, my wife’s grandma had to walk me through the process of setting up the photo paper and printer buttons correctly.
Since it’s all flipped, know that when I say Light Side I mean all things good about Star Wars, like Wookiees.
By Dark Side, I mean all signs of George Lucas dementia, like showing a wampa eating, the Life Day celebration, and the entire population of Naboo.
Dark Side
- Camera unleashed – still figuring out how to lock onto characters effectively.
- I guess Sith operate all electronic devices by using a lightsaber as a stylus
- General Kota’s non-moving mouth – “Hey, kid, don’t be like Vader. And, um, oil can…”
Light Side
- Starting out the game as Vader – usually it’s something that you work towards, but once the first cutscene is done you are the Dark Lord of the Sith crushing a Wookiee rebellion; pillars and ryyk blades go flying
- Using the Wii remote to slash down troopers –
Meesa likin’ da slashinsYubjub! - Lining up and tilting the nunchuck to the onscreen prompt actually works – and if you succeed, the Apprentice busts out some Yoda versus Dooku moves
A quote, a picture, and an ethical question about Wookiees
I mean, what more do you need in a bloggh?
First, the quote
Donald Miller’s Blue Like Jazz. Yes, I’ve read it before. I’m re-reading it, and for a “I need to read the latest teen fiction” librarian that’s crazy because I can only think of three other times that has occurred: the multiple class readings of literature (16 times (3 block classes x 5 years + 1 on my own) worth of Diary of Anne Frank, The Outsiders, Watsons go to Birmingham, and multiple short stories)), stuff by C. S. Lewis, and To Kill a Mockingbird (okay, so through the big three of Shakespeare in, as well).
I guess it can be determined that I still read a lot. But Blue Like Jazz deserves coming back to.
Here’s a part of what I read today:
Loneliness is something that came with the fall. If loving other people is a bit of heaven then certainly isolation is a bit of hell, and to that degree, here on earth, we decide in which state we would like to live. Rick told me, a little later, I should be living in community. He said I should have people around bugging me and getting under my skin because without people I could not grow – I could not grow in God, and I could not grow as a human.
Pick up a copy. When I read the book, it feels like my soul is sitting in the perfect recliner eating a Hot Pocket*.
Thank you to the Star Wars guys, the sidewalk drivers, and my family. You are appreciated.
Next, the picture
Before I continue, you should know that I am feeding my youngest while snacking. I have to tell you that the new Batman fruit snacks are way cooler molding than the Spider-man and Transformers ones combined.
This one was sent in by Danjo today:
In our media-saturated world, polls and commentators and all that, have we matured much?
I, of bloggher persuasion, am the chief of sinners. Yet, one should know, I have hit information overload. I wonder how many of us in Generation Jaded (or whatever we are) are truly really excited and hopeful about the election results, either way.
And finally an ethical question
Wookiee Jedi (Force Warrior variant). (Yes, I know that’s not a question.)
Correct – this is a random picture from the Internet and not me.
Rage is a racial bonus. If my Wookiee is in the middle of combat and acts out of Rage, is he being tempted by the Dark Side? Is it in his nature as a Wookiee and he must fight it to hone his Force training or will he not gain any Dark Side points while adding +2 to damage and attack rolls?
No, I’m serious.
*Results may vary.
Slade – what has happened to LucasArts?
Check out these great articles cataloging the history of Star Wars Games. Especially check out where they started (I never played ‘Empire’, but I remember going crazy in the vector graphics Death Star game at Disneyland), where they went wrong, and where they’re at now.
Devin – Can I get a “Wooha!” for X-Wing? I think you and I (and Stackpole) are the only ones who remember that game. Booyor secret: I loaded that game and TIE fighter on the Learning Center computers at our high school and played them after school.
Also check out the extensive coverage at GameTrailers.
This will make you cry. Tom, I remember celebrating Jedi Knight Release Day in college.
Session 7
For my non-Star Wars readers, you do realize whose bloggh you’re reading, right? Don’t worry. Soon we’ll be continuing Russian free speech violations, historical Cold War comparisons, and mayoral interviews.
(I had forgotten about my Statler/Waldorf presidential campaigning.)
Kraka is dead! Long live Kraka!
Since no one’s going to be finding the footage, and any of the civilians on the ship probably only have nightmarish blurs of the encounter, this will take place from OOC.
Really, the only way to describe it is to review the deaths:
- A section of the Vong troopers in a blast from above by the New Republic
- A mercenary force, brought by Triggerman, caught in the middle of warbeasts and strafing coralskippers.
- Mutated footsoldiers brought down by sniper fire, lightsabers, and even the Free Hungry Miltia from the city’s 14 fighting men on the rooftops.
- Vong warmachines launched plasma into mercenaries
- Triggerman brought a force of domestic droids to the fun on the edge of the battle. Two Vong warriors became enraged and rushed to start slashing with amphistaffs
- Warbeasts blasted by an improvised gun platform from our ship’s wreckage; platform piloted by ZiD8
- That platform was smashed to the ground, ZiD8 inside. If we can plug him into the ship’s computer, his memories should be restored. Right?
- A ship, rigged to explode, swept over a segment of approaching Vong soldiers.
- Vong commander with crabclaw struck down Kraka; Vong snuck onto civilian freighter and started massacring while the heroes listened over commlink; Tyris rushed to engage but was slashed down – but not before lightning tore into the commander; mercenaries, before dying, finished off the commander with grenades in close quarters, saving the civilians; Tyris could probably be revived
- 5 of the 20 Chiss troops fell to warbeast stomps, swipes, bites and plasma artillery fire
- 5 died holding down the remaining Vong troops so the operative and Zenon could escape; holding down until the Chiss orbital strike cleared a street full of Vong (and the 5 Chiss and 2 militia, and the Chiss commander in a blaze of glory (locked into his commlink coordinates))
- 10 Chiss actually made it back onto the dropship
- Some mercenaries and Republic troopers actually departed the field, too
- The warbeast that towered over the treetops and smashed through buildings was brought down by combined fire from mercenaries, Chiss, Republic troopers and probably some Force choking (if I know my party)
And for those keeping a Booyor tally, that’s 4 character deaths with this group:
- Kraka (SW: New Jedi Order), from a Chiss airstrike while being digested in the stomach of a Vong warbeast
- Stutter (Mutants and Masterminds), on an Immaculate Dominion strikecruiser when a giant alien lizard known as Enemy exploded in a cloud of acid after eating through a wall
- The Wanderer (SW: Foundation), struck down by an Imperial sentinel while in combat with the Dark Lady
- Lofryyka (SW: Foundation), strapped with a backpack full of detonite grappling with Vader
My Chiss and city militia tally of enemy defeats:
The dice are enemy soldiers created by the Vong from the civilians earlier. That dark blur on the left is a warbeast (the one that ate Kraka).
Here’ Devin’s final count:
Those four large creatures. Large warbeasts.
Hard Core Nerdery
Currently making final preparations for giant, living room-spanning combat between Vong, Chiss, Jedi, Republic and Scoundrel forces.
Paper (and pencil) beats console.
Updates:
Sean injures a superior Vong. Round 1 goes to the heroes.
Jesse force-gripping giant beast.
Vong cannon obliterates Republic troops after they rig the ship to explode.
Kraka ready to deflect as other Jedi gripping.
Triggerman broadcats showing up.
Finished Reading Force Unleashed
If the game is anything like the book, Star Wars fans (Bel Iblis fans) will be excited.
What’s funny is that the author builds in weapon customization and outfit changes that you see in video games. And we get to see the origins of the Rebellion (and a bunch of other stuff), more than just the meeting that was in the deleted scenes of Episode III.
Haden Blackman, you still give Slade cause to worry.
Sean Williams, I actually liked your book. (No Michael Stackpole, but there can be only one…D’oh. Wrong franchise.)
Something trivial or commonplace that concludes a series of significant events
I guess the closing ceremonies were the definition of anticlimactic. I say “I guess” because I didn’t watch them yet. I hear that in comparison to the legions of trained pneumatic warriors (really, follow the link), the closing ceremonies are akin to kids performing the Dark Knight trailer.
I was all psyched to watch the Olympics and then multiple people ruined the China versus USA basketball results (the only event I wanted to watch). I then read about the adult diapers that the drummers in the opening ceremonies had to wear and I checked out. It was fun to think of continuous coverage on my TV, but after a minute I would always get bored.
And hey…I read Siddhartha. I have an attention span.
I reserved my copy of Force Unleashed today. I don’t know if I could handle the Wii Fit shenanigans again. With Target you buy a $5 gift card to reserve a copy for seven days. That $5 gets applied to the purchase of the game…and a wall cling of a Sith apprentice! Where would I put that?
Oh. The Star Wars room.
Yep. Nerdy librarian. Generation Dead is right up your alley, Devin.
On Saturday we went to a friend’s birthday party and played Citadel. It’s a city building game where character cards give you special abilities. I was a fan of the Assassin and Tax Collector hanging out at my Docks and Fortress. Throw a Warlord into the mix if someone already grabbed one of my favorite characters and fun was had.
I also thought that it was funny that it’s possible to make an exact likeness of NAU:
Check this out from my trip home from work:
This thing was holding on until it crawled onto the roof. I was expecting to see it get tossed.
It “closing ceremonied” my expectations.
What? The nameless assassin gets a cool storyline?
Don’t worry, no spoilers for Star Wars: Force Unleashed because I know how much of a fanatic I am. As I am reading through the novelization (careful, reviewers from external sites may have spoilers), though, be encouraged.
It’s actually a good storyline.
And it explains, in real life terms, why stormtroopers in video games will stay aboard a crashing space station to fight the main character when they really should haul plastic behind to an escape pod.