My Entertainment Weekend Update

Happy weekend, my Star Wars friends!

So I’m still working on two books, Out of the Shadows and I Was Anastasia. It’s taking me a while because I’ve started another Loki book called Truth and Other Lies, by Lyra Wolf (what can I say, I’m obsessed, lol). It’s another mythical version of Loki, with all the usual players, just mixed up a little bit differently. It also borders on the paranormal romance with quite a few racy sex scenes. I don’t mind it, but it’s not exactly what I was expecting when I picked up the book, lol. The storyline is keeping me interested, though. It’s the first in a trilogy, and I have the first two on my Kindle, and pre-ordered the third, so I guess I have high hopes, lol. I may do a separate post on all the Loki books I’ve been reading, so stay tuned.

Speaking of Loki, I just finished watching the Loki series for the fourth time. I did say I was obsessed, lol. And so did I notice anything I missed during the first three viewings? Not really (although I’m sure there are plenty of easter eggs I don’t know about), except to realize that Loki is clearly more mischievous in this show than he was in the movies. In the films, he’s a trickster–which is similar but not quite the same–but mostly he’s a villain, an anguished family member, or a wise-ass. He’s angry a lot. But as the God of Mischief, you’d think there would be more tomfoolery. And in the show, we do get glimpses of this: when he plays around with the time device with Hunter B-15, clearly taking joy in tormenting her with it; when he and Mobius are in Pompei, and he just throws caution to the wind, exclaiming on top of the goat cart; and on the train on Lamentis, when he gets drunk and sings. These are just delightful moments, worthy of Loki’s elemental nature, which is just plain fun, and the show gave the creators time to explore that.

I also watched the latest What If? episode, which saw an assassin take out the Avengers one by one. At first I thought maybe it was Loki, but it didn’t quite make sense. It surprised me who it turned out to be; and Loki did make his appearance, at first to avenge Thor’s death, and then to help Nick Fury nab the killer. And then, of course, to take over Midgard, lol. It was a neat episode, as they all are. Fun little nuggets of Marvel.

In more Marvel news, I did catch the Spiderman: No Way Home trailer, after the whole leak debacle. I was more excited about seeing Dr. Strange in it than anything else, but he looked a bit…off, lol. Sweatpants? Snow in the Sanctum? And actually helping Peter with his request to change the fact that people knew who he was? It’s just all wrong. Is he an imposter? A variant? Possessed? What the hell’s going on? Very excited to see him, though, no matter how weird he is.

Finally, in the Star Wars universe, I watched the Mandalorian Gallery on Disney+ on the final episode of Season Two. You know, the one with Luke freaking Skywalker. Very cool, very fun to watch how they put it all together. I had no idea how they brought back a young Luke, except, you know, “technology.” The details are fascinating, and a bit bewildering. It’s so much work! And we are so glad and very lucky we have these dedicated people bringing our favorite characters to life, with so much care and respect. That’s why I love these behind-the-scenes specials, because it’s easy for us to take for granted the amazing shows we watch. But there’s literally an army’s worth of people, tons of talent, and painstaking work behind these shows and films, and I’m awed and thankful at all these souls who bring us such joy. So yeah, check it out if you can, lol.

That’s it for this week. What have you been up to? Let me know in the comments and we’ll talk about it!

My Entertainment Weekend Update

Happy weekend, my Star Wars friends!

Still trying to settle on the title of these weekly postings, which includes Star Wars, and lots of other things, too. It’s probably going to be a work in progress, lol.

And by the way, I’m going to be expanding the blog to cover the other stuff that I obsess about, in books, movies, and TV, as these posts have illustrated. So I’ll probably be changing the name of the blog, and just adding more categories. Nothing too drastic. I love Star Wars, but I just can’t keep quiet about all the other great stuff I love, too. I’m thinking of calling it Star Wars and Other Obsessions: All the Stuff I Love. What do you think?

Not much in book news today; I’m still reading the High Republic YA novel Out of the Shadows by Justina Ireland, and my book club novel I Was Anastasia, by Ariel Lawhon. Both excellent.

I’ve just watched the new trailer for Star Wars: Visions, and it looks really interesting. I’m totally not a Manga person, but I’ve got nothing against it, either, so I can guarantee you I’ll be checking these out. It will be nice to have some new Star Wars content to look forward to every week again, now that The Bad Batch is done.

Oh, and by the way, next week Disney+ is releasing a special about the Season 2 finale of The Mandalorian, specifically how Mark Hamill participated in bringing Luke Skywalker in for that awesome appearance to rescue Grogu. I can’t wait to see it, and I’ll report my thoughts on next week’s post.

In Marvel news, I’ve watched the second What If? episode, when T’Challa is Starlord instead of Peter Quill. I just have to say these shows are super cool and fun. To have T’Challa convince the Ravagers to do good in the universe is just awesome (seeing a “good” Thanos, and a super-sexy, benevolent Nebula is amazing!). It was a wonderful homage to Chadwick Boseman, and I got a little choked up at the end with their tribute. I think Loki is the next What If? character, and then Dr. Strange, and I can’t tell you how excited I am about that!

Also in Marvel, when I heard of the new Marvel superheroes The Eternals, I thought, meh. I’m really attached to the old crew, and who are these guys anywa–wait, is that Bucky?!? Oh nope, my mistake, I thought it was Sebastian Stan, lol, but it’s Richard Madden from Game of Thrones (another of my favorites) along with his costar, Kit Harington. Alrighty then, I’m sold! Actually, it looks really cool, so I’ll be there to watch.

Finally, I was in the mood for a movie the other night, but I also felt the urge to watch Loki again (because I can’t get enough of it, lol), but compromised with a movie with Tom Hiddleston in it. Hard to believe, but the man does act in other films. So out of what was available to me, I chose Crimson Peak, because I love period piece horror flicks.

This movie was directed by Guillermo del Toro, so it was guaranteed to be weird and creepy, and it was. But not so “out there” as Pan’s Labyrinth was. Oh, it had ghosts and a creepy, dilapidated English mansion, and blood and lots of stabbings, and incest, and all. Tom H’s character, Thomas Sharpe, was bad, but also kind of sweet and tragic. Sort of like Loki, but without the sass. I absolutely loved it.

So that’s it on my entertainment radar this week. What have you been up to? Let me know in the comments and we’ll talk about it!

My Star Wars Weekend Update

Happy weekend, Star Wars friends!

This week I found myself in the middle of four different books (!): Out of the Shadows, a Star Wars High Republic YA novel; I Was Anastasia, the book I’m reading for my sister’s book Club; Freefall, a Poe Dameron YA novel I’ve been working on for a few weeks; and Mischief Maker, a book about mythological Loki. Whenever I find myself in this situation, I have to discipline myself and just pick one to focus on, then move to the next, and then the next, or I just find myself all over the place, lol.

So I focused on the Loki book, since that appealed to me the most (I’m ahead of the game with the book club novel), and I have to say it’s not bad. It’s by Bruce Nesmith, who’s worked on several video games, so I didn’t go into it thinking it would win any writing awards (no offense, Mr. Nesmith). But despite several annoying typos (in the Kindle version, at least), it’s pretty entertaining.

After Ragnorok, Loki was exiled to Midgard, and he’s been living here for over 900 years. He’s working as a magician in Chicago at the beginning of the book, but his past won’t leave him alone, and he must travel Yggdrasil to several of the Nine Realms to figure out who’s trying to kill him and why. He ends up preparing for a second Ragnorok against Thor, who’s a brutish bully in this story. I haven’t quite finished it yet but it’s a fun romp through a re-imagined Nine Realms, and a Loki who is blonde, likes playing harmless pranks, and rides around on a motorcycle wearing a Led Zeppelin t-shirt. I can totally see it (except the blonde part; that’s hard to imagine after having Tom Hiddleston’s black-haired Loki burned into my brain, lol). Oh, and he’s got Munnin, one of Odin’s ravens (Memory), along for the ride. Oh, and the author knows his Norse mythology, many stories of which I recognized through my reading of Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman (another book I’m only halfway through, lol).

On the Marvel front, I’ve decided to wait on the Agent Carter series for now, but I have watched the first What If? episode. I think this is going to be a fun and interesting series, with explorations into the multiverse that perhaps Loki’s show has created. I have to admit, it was weird seeing Agent Carter turn into the super soldier instead of Steve Rogers–weird, but also very cool. And at least Steve gets a primitive Iron Man suit so he’s not left behind. Can’t wait to see what they have coming next.

So, on to some some actual Star Wars: the season finale of The Bad Batch. Spoilers ahead, so if you haven’t seen it yet, stop reading.

Star Wars: The Bad Batch Recap & Spoilers: Season 1 Finale, 'Kamino Lost'

The Batch, along with Crosshair and the droid AZ, have been trapped on Kamino while the Empire blows up the facility. The whole show is how they escape and get back to the Marauder, which was actually pretty nail-biting most of the time. The really interesting part was Crosshair–it turns out, his chip was removed, apparently, a long time ago, and he claims that his allegiance to the Empire is his own decision. Not sure how much of that I believe, as I remember the chip’s functions being enhanced exponentially by the Empire, so why then take it out? Unless he clawed it out himself (and the ugly scar on his head makes it look like that), but still, maybe the damage has been done to his brain? I don’t know. But he claims he’s made his decision, and he decides to stay on Kamino and wait for rescue rather than go with the Batch. So they’ll be crossing swords with him again in Season Two, but I’m curious how it will play out. I thought the first season was quite good, despite some flagging in the middle, but I’m pretty forgiving when it comes to Star Wars, lol.

Seems all of these characters this week–Loki, Peggy Carter, and Crosshair–have been flipped on their heads and are not what they seem, or what we’re familiar with. I like that change-up!

So that’s been my entertainment week. What have you been up to? Let me know in the comments and we’ll talk about it!

I missed a Marvel show? And can you really have too many Lokis?

Okay, so I just finished my second viewing of Loki (bravo!), and I thought, well, that’s it until something new comes up. And then I go back to the Disney+ home page, and what do I see?

Agent Carter. Two seasons. A Marvel show I (apparently?) missed. How come I didn’t see this? How come it wasn’t in the Marvel timeline? Okay, so it’s not a direct storyline for the Endgame universe, but it concerns Cap’s love interest. I had no idea it existed, lol.

So I guess I’m watching another Marvel show. I also saw one called “Inhuman” but I don’t think it has anything to do with our heroes (please let me know if I’m wrong!).

Anyway, speaking of Loki, I’ve discovered there’s tons of novels out there about him. I’ve already read and written briefly about one, called Loki: Where Mischief Lies, by Mackenzie Lee. This one’s put out by Marvel, and deals with our Marvel Loki at a different point in his life. I loved it. I’ve just found out there’s a new one, a sequel called Loki: Where Mischief Ends, by the same author, and I so want to read it! I just see it in paperback, so I’ll wait and see if it goes to Kindle anytime soon (since I read the first one on Kindle. If I buy the paperback, then of course I must have the paperback of the first one, too, lol.)

However, there are other novels about Loki–not the Marvel version, but a version based on the Norse myth. I’ve recently downloaded one to my Kindle called Mischief Maker, by Bruce Nesmith, and it sounds pretty neat (Loki is blonde in this one, which is a little weird to picture). There’s also a trilogy about mythological Loki called The Nine Worlds Rising Trilogy, by Lyra Wolf, which I’d also love to check out. (Truth and Other Lies, The Order of Chaos, and That Good Mischief). OMG, so many, many more! The God of Mischief is quite the thing right now, lol, and I totally get it.

Mischief Maker: A Norse Mythology Contemporary Fantasy by [Bruce Nesmith]

This blog seems to be turning into a Marvel/Loki blog, lol. Maybe I need to do some remodeling, to encompass my expanding interests and obsessions. It’s either that, or start a new blog about Marvel and/or Loki, but if I keep doing that–starting new blogs about new passions–I’ll have dozens of blogs, lol. Maybe that will be part of my new Fall plan–reworking the blog. We’ll see.

Anyway, just thought I’d riff on these new discoveries. Have you watched Agent Carter? Is it any good? Read any Loki books? Any advice on the structure of the blog? I’d be happy to hear it. Thanks for reading, and see you next time!

Brief thoughts on my Marvel movie marathon.

So because of my absolute love of the D+ show Loki, I’ve decided to catch up on the Marvel Universe and watch all the movies. I initially watched the movies with Loki in them (the three Thor movies, and 3 of the Avenger movies) but because the show Loki has consequences for Marvel movies moving forward (and assuming I’d want to watch them) it was time to play catch up on everybody that came before.

Using the D+ list of Marvel phases 1-4, I began. Here’s a few lines on what I though of each movie.

Iron Man. Very cool. Tony Stark is annoying at first, but he grows on you.

Iron Man 2. Kind of boring, actually.

Thor. Absolutely loved. I’m more into mythological magic users than superheroes, so this made me happy.

Captain America: The First Avenger. Steve Rogers is such a good guy. But I wonder if Agent Carter would have fallen in love with Skinny Steve Rogers, lol. Kidding, I know she liked him. Loved seeing Hugo Weaving.

Avengers. Fabulous. Loki is so wonderfully evil in this one. And it’s this Loki that ends up at the TVA.

Iron Man 3. Better than 2. I love that Pepper gets to kick some ass at the end. And I love Guy Pearce.

Thor: The Dark World. This one’s great, too. Loki’s reaction to Frigga’s death is heartbreaking.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Also kind of boring. SHIELD is compromised by HYDRA, yada yada. I like what they’re doing with Bucky, though.

Guardians of the Galaxy. This one was goofy and fun. Kind of a breath of fresh air after all the (sometimes boring) earth stuff. Good soundtrack.

Avengers: Age of Ultron. This one was pretty good. The Romanov/Banner romance kind of came out of left field, but it’s sweet. Vision and Wanda intrigue me.

Ant-Man. This one was really fun, too. I REALLY don’t like insects, but the ants in this were kind of cute. Kind of.

Captain America: Civil War. This one was actually quite good. Seeing the Avengers turn on each other is painful. I loved Daniel Bruhl in The Alienist series, and he’s a good villain here. I think there’s more of him in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.

Doctor Strange. OMG, I absolutely LOVED Dr. Strange. The mystical magic users are more up my alley (which is probably why I like the Jedi so much). I can’t wait to see more of Dr. Strange, most likely in connection to the events of the Loki series (I think??).

Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 2. Another fun ride, another great soundtrack. Baby Groot is probably the cutest thing pre-Grogu.

Thor: Ragnarok. My absolute favorite Thor movie. The relationship between Thor and Loki is wonderful here. And it’s really funny. Jeff Goldblum almost steals the show.

Black Panther. Perfection. That is all. Except “Wakanda Forever!”

Avengers: Infinity War. Loki’s death in the first ten minutes of this movie is very, very painful to watch. But knowing he went out a hero in trying to kill Thanos is poignant. This movie is really when shit gets real, and what all the movies that came before were leading up to. And I love how Thor calls Rocket “Rabbit.”

Ant-Man and Wasp. I really like Scott Lange. I think he’s the only (sort of) Avenger with a child (until Tony has Morgan later). He’s funny and down-to-earth and a little star-struck by the Avengers, and I think the audience can really relate to him. And Paul Rudd is the perfect actor to play him.

Captain Marvel. This one was fine. At first, I felt like it didn’t have much to do with, well, anything. The Cree and all that, but honestly, who cares? But then Nick Fury and Agent Coulson came along, and that was neat, I guess. I loved the cat Goose, or whatever it was, lol. Oh, and Ben Mendelsohn. He’s great.

Avengers: Endgame. Truly epic. I gotta admit, I got a little weepy this second time around when Tony dies at the end. Leaves me with a couple of questions: where’s Gomorrah? How did she just disappear from the battle? Guessing Guardians of the Galaxy 3 will find Quill looking for her. And I love that Thor’s with them, but what does that mean for Thor: Love and Thunder? I know that Jane Foster will become The Mighty Thor, but where does that leave our Thor? And what about Mjolnir? Cap brought it with him back to the past when he brought the Infinity stones back, but he only brought his shield back for Sam. Where’s the hammer? And Loki–well, we know what happened to Loki, lol.

Wandavision. At first I thought, What the hell am I watching? Lol. I figured it would make sense eventually. Pretty entertaining. But what happened to White Vision? Hoping he shows up somewhere in future content.

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. For the first few episodes, this one was a little dull for me, but it got really good towards the end, even quite moving. It was obvious Steve wanted Sam to be the new Captain America, but I guess he had to get there on his own. I was mostly there for Bucky and Zemo, though, lol.

Loki. The show that started this madness for me, lol. I love the direction Loki’s character is going here. Simply wonderful, and psyched there’s a Season Two. And we’ll probably see Loki in some future movies, and I’m so there for that.

Black Widow. I probably won’t see this one until it’s removed from Premiere access, but that’s okay. She’s a cool character, but not at the top of my list.

So I don’t see any Hulk or Spiderman movies on D+ (who knows why, probably licensing stuff), so I may have to look elsewhere for those, and I’m not really sure where they fall in the timeline, but whatever.

I really thought Star Wars was complicated and comprehensive (and if you include the books, it is), but cinematically, Marvel takes the cake. It’s really incredibly ambitious, and I never knew how interconnected it all was. In the past, I’d see previews for yet another comic book movie, and I thought, ah geez, another one? Lol. But I’ve been converted. I’ve seen the light. I’m a true believer, and can’t wait to see what Marvel has up its sleeve for the future.

Padawans, Super Soldiers, And A Russian Princess

Happy weekend, my Star Wars friends!

I thought I’d change the title of these weekend updates and make them more tuned to what each post is about.

So I’ve gotten a few chapters into Out of the Shadows, by Justina Ireland, and I’m pretty sure I’m going to like this book. I’ve heard a few complaints about it, that it’s more talky and slow than previous books, but that’s okay by me. Between Star Wars and Marvel, I think I’ve had enough explosions and battles to last me several lifetimes, lol. This one focuses on the Padawans and younger Jedi, like Vernestra Rwoh, Reath Silas, and Imri Cantaros. I’m a big fan of Reath ever since Into the Dark by Claudia Gray. He’s a bookish type, more into research and scholarship than the whole Jedi adventuring thing, and I can relate to that, lol.

On Kindle, I’m still working on Freefall, about a young Poe Dameron, but it’s recently taken a back seat to a non-Star Wars book called I Was Anastasia, by Ariel Lawhon. For the past few years, my sister and niece and I have done a little book club together, on and off throughout the year, and after some time off, we just started up again. The book we chose was this one about Anna Anderson, the woman who had claimed to be Anastasia Romanov, the supposed only survivor of the slaughter of the Romanov family during the Russian Revolution. I’ve always been fascinated by the subject, and probably saw a movie or two back in the day about it, but I don’t quite remember all the details. I think it was fairly recently established that she was NOT Anastasia, but again, I’m not sure. Even if that’s true, people still want to believe, I think. It’s a tragic, sensational story, and people respond to that. It’s in novel form, so it’s “fiction,” but I’m sure the author has done her research. Really intriguing.

The Bad Batch penultimate Season One episode, “Return to Kaminoa,” is what I’ve been waiting for this show to do for a while now: go back to compelling story-telling. I won’t go into spoilers in case you haven’t seen it yet, but this Season Finale Part 1 is fantastic, and I can’t wait to see what happens in Part 2.

On the Marvel front, I’m a few episodes into The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Admittedly, I’m not as invested in this one, although I think the character of Bucky Barnes is interesting. And the return of Zemo is great. But after the quirkiness of Wandavison, and the sheer enjoyability of Loki, this one’s a bit dull, lol. But I’ll soldier through, and then rewatch Loki, of course. And then I’m done with the Marvel universe (unless I look around for Hulk and/or Spiderman movies, which I may or may not do). I may catch Black Widow in the theater next week. There’s a few Marvel movies coming out later this year, like The Eternals, but I have no idea what it’s about, lol, or if it’s connected at all with what I’ve been watching. Oh, and the Shang-Chi guy. I can’t keep track, lol. What I’m waiting for are the next Dr. Strange and Thor movies, and I think another Wakanda movie is coming out next year. So I’ll stay tuned.

That’s about it for entertainment. My family and I still haven’t done half the summer stuff we wanted to do this year yet, but next week is our 23rd wedding anniversary and I took the week off from work, so maybe we’ll get some fun stuff in. We’ve been talking about ziplining, so maybe we’ll actually get to that! I’ll let you know next week. See you then!