My Entertainment Weekend Update

Hello my friends, and happy weekend!

I don’t have a ton of stuff to talk about this week, as I’ve just been reading. And reading, and reading, lol.

I had expected to receive The Princess and the Scoundrel about a week after its release date of August 16th, because that’s been the pattern lately, as it was with Padawan and Shadow of the Sith. So I started reading The Fifth Season, by N.K. Jemisin while I waited. But it only took two days to get Princess, and I just couldn’t wait to get into it. And I was far enough into Fifth Season not to want to put it down. Reader problems, eh? 🙂 So I’m reading two books.

The Fifth Season is a big book, and I’m about one quarter to a third of the way through. It’s mesmerizing, and unlike any other fantasy I’ve ever read. It takes place on a large continent called The Stillness, which is an ironic name since the place is constantly erupting with earthquakes and tremors. It’s so bad that their whole society is formed around this geological fact: they have the “Stonelore” which tells you what do when a “Season” (a particularly catastrophic event) comes around. The continent has been shaped and reshaped many times over the course of millenia, and many cultures and empires developed and ruled over that time. But this particular one has learned how to survive. In this world, there are people who are born with the ability to affect the tremors and shakes; they’re called “orogenes.” People fear them, so much so that when a child shows such powers, they are often killed. When they aren’t, they are sent to the Fulcrum, where orogenes train to control their powers and help keep the shakes at bay.

There are several storylines that overlap, although I’m not sure of the actual timeline. The first one introduced is that of a woman named Essun, and she’s just discovered her three-year old child is dead, beaten to death by his father. Essun is an orogene, living in the “comm” of Tirima for the past ten years and hiding what she is; she fears her son had shown signs of being an orogene like her, leading to her husband, Jija, killing the child. He’s fled with their young daughter. Essun makes it her quest to find her daughter, and, well, deal with Jija.

The world-building in this book is incredible and intricate. There are mysterious, floating obelisks in the sky, leftover from some ancient civilization that didn’t survive a Season. No one knows what they are or what they were for, but I have a feeling we’re going to find out later in the book. I’m so intrigued by the whole story, I haven’t been this swallowed up by a book in a long time. Oh, and it won the Hugo Award a few years ago. There are two other books after this one that makes up The Broken Earth series, The Obelisk Gate and The Stone Sky, and you can bet I’ll be reading those, too.

I’m about a third of the way through The Princess and the Scoundrel, and it’s just wonderful. There’s nothing earth-shattering in it, nothing that significantly affects the canon (so far), but it’s just a joy to read. We thought we knew the love story of Han and Leia, but there’s always room for more details, in my opinion. We get to see Han’s proposal and their wedding on Endor, and Mon Mothma has convinced them to take their honeymoon on the Halcyon, a space cruise ship. Where I am in the book, they’re just arriving at the Halcyon, but I know that some adventure and intrigue will follow.

But what I really love is getting into Han and Leia’s heads in alternating chapters, their excitement, their fears and doubts, their hope, their love. What we kind of forget is that Han lost a year of his life while he was in carbonite; it’s disorienting to him to know that others continued on with their lives while he was in that carbonite block in Jabba’s palace, and he has to catch up. So things have progressed really fast for him, to say the least. Leia, after having some conversations with Luke, has to deal with the new knowledge that Darth Vader is her father, and she’s having a hard time of it. Unlike Luke, she can’t forgive him. She hates him. And she’s hesitant to learn about the Force, because she fears she’ll become like him. I’m really enjoying the book so far.

I’m also excited to learn that there will be a Cal Kestis novel next year! I’ve never been a gamer, and let’s face it, I never will be nor do I want to be, but I’ve always felt like I’ve missed out on the story of Cal Kestis from the game Jedi: Fallen Order. He’s kind of a big part of canon now, especially with the Fortress Inquisitorious making an appearance in the Obi-Wan Kenobi show. So while gamers wait for the sequel to Fallen Order, Jedi: Survivor, there will be a book called Jedi: Battle Scars, and it will release on March 7th of 2023. I’ve always hoped for a book or series of books with Cal Kestis, and it looks like my wish will come true!

What’s been entertaining you? Let me know in the comments and we’ll talk about!

My five favorite ships in Star Wars

No, I’m not talking about Reylo…I mean real spaceships, lol.

I’ve never been much of a “ship nerd,” memorizing designations and specs, etc. In fact, all I know is the Empire has Star Destroyers, and the Rebellion has X-Wings, pretty much. Okay, I know a little bit more, but not much.

I do have some favorite ships, though, and I thought I’d share them here.

Jedi Vectors. These are cool little ships. What I love about them is that they are connected to the Jedi who fly them: the Jedi pilot uses the Force to fly it. Also, the weapons on them can only be accessed by a Jedi’s lightsaber–they must insert the lightsaber into the vehicle like a key. This serves a couple of purposes: the ship can never be used as a weapon by a non-Jedi; and the Jedi must make a conscious choice to use weapons instead of a non-lethal way to solve problems. So cool. And they look like mosquitos buzzing around.

Padme’s Naboo Royal Starship. This is one sleek, shiny ride. I just love how this ship looks: luxurious but sharp as a needle. This one’s totally based on looks alone.

Poe’s Black One X-Wing. X-Wings are cool, but Poe’s modified black X-Wing is even cooler. I don’t know much about its “specs,” but I do know from The Force Awakens novelization that BB-8 has a hard time dealing with it because it’s so fussy. I like when ships have (literal) personalities. And it’s one-of-a-kind. I was sad to see it blow up in The Last Jedi.

The Ghost. This one’s more of an emotional attachment than anything else, although it’s a nifty little ship. It represents my love for its crew more than anything else, but it can do some amazing things with Hera at the helm. And I love that its shuttle is called the Phantom (and that each crew member is called Spectre One, Two, etc. See what they did there?)

And of course, the Millenium Falcon. But particularly when it belonged to Lando in Solo: A Star Wars Story because it’s so shiny and new, with all kinds of bells and whistles. I love its long nose which is the shuttle (that Han ejects for some crazy escape, to Lando’s despair. Oh Lando, it’s just beginning!) But it’s also lovely inside, with a wet bar, a “love nest” that is Lando’s bedroom, and a huge closet for his capes! And I love learning that L3-37, after her death, is incorporated into the ship. It gives the Falcon’s rather funky personality some context.

So those are my five favorites. I don’t have any Imperial ships on the list; they just don’t interest me as much. I thought about including Mando’s Razor Crest but honestly, it’s pretty ugly, lol.

What are your favorite Star Wars ships? Let me know in the comments and we’ll talk about it!

My Entertainment Weekend Update

Hello friends, and happy weekend!

Last week, I forgot to mention that I finished Black Spire by Delilah S. Dawson. I was a little wary at first, considering it’s a tie-in to an amusement park; but besides an introduction to the Outpost at the beginning that seemed like a tour at Galaxy’s Edge, I have to say it was a really good book. Vi Moradi, a Resistance spy, and Archex (aka Cardinal), both of whom were in Dawson’s excellent book Phasma, are sent by General Organa to Batuu to set up a Resistance base. Of course, everything goes wrong immediately, and Vi must somehow get back her equipment (which was stolen after they crashed), find and set up a Resistance base, recruit the locals to the cause, and stay out of the First Order’s clutches, who have recently landed. Vi has become one of my favorite Star Wars characters, by the way; she’s tough but compassionate, funny but one hundred percent committed. This poor woman was not only tortured in Phasma, but is beaten and tortured several times in this book as well. As a spy, she’s been trained to deal with torture (which seems kind of appalling to me, but makes sense); she tells another character at one point, “Spy school was fun,” with tongue firmly in cheek. She’s even got a poisoned tooth to get her out of unbearable situations, but she’s never used it. Atta girl.

I also finished Padawan by Kiersten White, about a young Obi-Wan Kenobi. I talked a little bit about in last week’s post, before I finished it. It’s a good book, a great coming-of-age story for Obi-Wan, who learns to trust not only himself, but the Force; and I liked its theme of how those with power must learn how to responsibly wield it. A very fun but also thoughtful book.

I debated on whether or not I wanted to get into the whole “Obi-Wan’s sexuality” controversy brought on by this book, and I just want to say: who cares? A few lines in a book (in which he isn’t explicitly attracted to another male, he’s simply wondering about kissing, well, anyone) isn’t a big deal. Yes, he fell in love with Satine, but the point is, he never acted on any sexual attraction he might have had for anyone during his entire life, as he’s committed to the Jedi Order above anything else. So the argument is moot, in my opinion. People love making mountains out of molehills, and it’s annoying, lol.

Anyway, I’ve been reading the novelization of Solo: A Star Wars Story on my Kindle just for the fun of it, and it made me want to watch the movie again. So I did the other night, and I’m just reminded how much I love this story. Because it is SO much damn fun! And the book delves into a lot of details that the movie leaves out, like what, exactly, happened to Qi’ra after Han escaped Corellia but she didn’t. There’s more about Lando and his delightful idiosyncrasies. And a whole lot more about L3-37, Lando’s revolutionary droid–about how she became who she is, and how she integrated with the Millenium Falcon. Just really cool, neat stuff.

I also watched the Star Wars LEGO Summer Vacation, and as usual, it was fun and delightful. I still think the Holiday Special reigns supreme, but these specials never disappoint. I still think the Emperor steals the show, though, as always, lol. Got a little misty-eyed at the end of the third one when Han tells Ben “I love you,” and Ben says, “I know.” Some high points are Obi-Wan singing “Gamorrean Girls” in Jabba’s palace, and Anakin’s Force ghost showing up in scuba gear, of all things. I’m hoping we someday get to see the sequel crew doing their things–Finn looking for Force-sensitives, Rey searching for Jedi Temples, Poe training X-Wing pilots, and Rose going on relief missions. I want to see ALL of this, okay LF/Disney? Please?

In Marvel news, I heard that there may be a second season of Moon Knight! I hope this is true, because I loved that series. I’m disappointed that in a long list of Emmy nominations, Oscar Isaac did not get an acting nomination. This is criminal, in my opinion. So it’s fantasy, who cares? His performance was phenomenal, I don’t care what anyone says. These kinds of shows always do great in the technical categories (as they should), but for some reason the actors get passed over. And that’s too bad, because they often pour their heart and souls into these roles, and should be taken as seriously as anyone else. Anyway, that’s my rant for the day, lol. Ooh, and I hear he’s not against coming back as Poe Dameron. Whaa??? Don’t get my hopes up, Oscar!

I’m now patiently awaiting The Princess and the Scoundrel by Beth Revis, which comes out on August 16th, but I probably won’t receive it until the next week. That leaves me some time to read another book. I was browsing around my local bookstore when The Fifth Season, by N.K. Jemisin caught my eye. This one’s been on my someday list for a long while, so I finally bought it. I just started it, but I can tell it’s going to be a really different, interesting read. It’s the first non-Star Wars book I’ve picked up in probably over a year, lol, so it will be a nice change of pace.

That’s about it. What’s been entertaining you? Let me know in the comments and we’ll talk about it!

My Entertainment Weekend Update

Hello friends, and happy weekend!

I finally received Padawan, by Kiersten White, and I’m about halfway through. It’s a YA book told through a young Obi-Wan’s point of view, while he’s a 16-year-old Padawan to Qui Gon Jinn. Their pairing is fairly new, and Obi-Wan is full of doubts, anxieties, and questions, about himself, his Master, his future, his connection to the Force…pretty much everything, lol. I get he’s an adolescent with self-esteem and identity issues, but sometimes I get tired of all his self-doubts. Similar to him saying, “Anakin, calm down,” I want to say, “Obi-Wan, calm down.” Was Obi-Wan really this anxiety-ridden as a teen, spiraling into holes of despair? I know he didn’t really understand Qui Gon at first, and felt their pairing was a mistake. But good grief! I suppose even the unflappable Obi-Wan Kenobi was young once. It’s a YA book, so I’ll cut it some slack.

Anyway, Obi-Wan finds some information about an unknown planet that Orla Jareni (a familiar character from the High Republic; I’m loving how the new canon books are incorporating High Republic events and characters into them) cryptically left behind. He’s dying to go on a mission with his Master like his friends, instead of meditating all the time, and Qui Gon actually agrees to go. But Qui Gon never shows up when it’s time to leave, and Obi-Wan actually does something reckless and takes off without him, intent on investigating the planet on his own.

Once he gets there, he meets a group of young people without adults around, who have peculiar Force-like abilities. They don’t know anything about the Force or Jedi, but they call it their Power. And Obi-Wan senses that something is off about the planet. It’s beautiful, but dangerous, attacking the kids whenever they go outside of the crashed ship they live in. Obi-Wan tries to piece together what’s going on here, while also trying to figure out his own identity as well. Despite my eye-rolling at his constant adolescent angst, I am enjoying the book.

I also finished the middle-grade book Spark of the Resistance, by Justina Ireland on my Kindle. It’s a Rey, Poe and Rose adventure set on the planet Minfar. They have to stop a typical First Order officer from gaining a mysterious weapon called the Echo Horn. It was a fun book, and I love sequel stories.

Next on the Kindle is a reread of the novelization of Solo: A Star Wars story, simply because I love it. 🙂

I’ve watched the latest Andor trailer, and it just looks awesome! I am so ready to dive into this longer series about the beginnings of the Rebellion. The bad news is that it has been pushed back to September 21 instead of August 31; the good news is that they’re dropping three episodes at once! Presumably it’s been pushed back because of the glut of fantasy shows coming out at that time (Rings of Power, She-Hulk, and the Game of Thrones spin-off House of the Dragon). Fair enough, I guess.

The second season of The Bad Batch is set to premiere in September as well, so I’m wondering if that will get pushed back, too, because of the Andor premiere. We’ll see.

That’s it just now. I’ve been spending some time on the Star Wars fan fiction I’ve been mentioning on and off for a while now. I’m having fun with it, and maybe someday I’ll actually finish the darn thing, lol.

What’s been entertaining you lately? Let me know in the comments, and we’ll talk about it!

My Entertainment Weekend Update

Hello my friends, and happy weekend!

So I’m almost done with Black Spire–about 50 pages to go, and I’m hoping to finish it before Padawan arrives. Because once the Obi-Wan book is in my hands, Vi Moradi will have to wait…again, lol. It’s actually a really good book, and I’ll get more detailed about it after I finish it, but the new ones coming out right now just demand my attention.

For my Kindle, I’ve downloaded Spark of the Resistance, by Justina Ireland. It’s a middle-grade book about Rey, Rose and Poe on an impromptu mission to the planet Minfar to help the locals there fight off the First Order. I’m several chapters in, and it’s pretty good. I’ve read a few books by Justina Ireland, mostly from the High Republic, and she’s very good with the middle-grade and YA books. And I’m hungry for more sequel stories. This one takes place between The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker.

I’ve watched the first episode of Light and Magic on Disney+, the docuseries about Industrial Light and Magic, the special effects company that George Lucas created. It’s fairly entertaining and interesting, but I don’t know if I’m interested enough in the details of special effects to keep watching. I do appreciate the brilliance of these people in bringing to life our beloved stories, and they absolutely deserve to have their praises sung. But I don’t know if I’ll take the time to watch all six hour-long episodes.

What I may want to do with my time instead is watch Logan and Deadpool, which are now available on Disney+. They’ve been on the top of my list to complete my Marvel movie marathon I did last summer, but I never got around to buying them to watch. Now I can watch them with my D+ subscription. Yay!

Speaking of Marvel, I’ve seen the wonderful Wakanda Forever trailer, and will probably be going to the theater to see it when it releases in November. But all the other Marvel Phase 6 stuff that was unveiled at the recent San Diego Comic-Con? Eh, I don’t know. I WILL be watching Loki Season Two (!!!), and probably Guardians of the Galaxy 3, as well as Wakanda, but all the new stuff, like Ironheart, Echo, Blade, etc? Probably not. I can never get enough Star Wars, but it seems I CAN get enough Marvel. At least, going forward, I’ll cherry pick my Marvel viewings. I haven’t even watched Ms. Marvel, and I heard it was quite good.

Mon and Cassian, the two faces of the early Rebellion.

Anyway, Logan and Deadpool are definitely on the horizon for me, but what I’m really waiting for is Andor. Getting really excited to fall deep into the 12 episodes for Season 1. I like Cassian’s character, but what I’m really looking forward to is Mon Mothma’s part of the story. We saw her a little bit in the Clone Wars as a Senator of the Republic, a little bit in Rebels when she leaves the Imperial Senate to lead the Rebellion, a little bit in Rogue One, her small part in ROTJ, and in the Aftermath books as Chancellor of the New Republic. We get little glimpses of her here and there, but she’s become such an important part of the Rebellion, it will be nice to see more of her story and how she operates in the Imperial Senate before the Rebellion coalesces into the Alliance. One more month!

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

My Entertainment Weekend Update

Hello my friends, and happy weekend!

I’ve finished Shadow of the Sith, and it’s a great book for the most part, and gives quite a bit of insight into the Sequel trilogy. For instance, many people (sequel haters, to be precise) criticize Rey for knowing so much about starship mechanics when she’s never flown one before. Okay, I get that, but in this book we learn why. Miramir, Rey’s mother, has a natural ability when it comes to mechanics, computers, slicing, etc. She’s brilliant at it, actually. And so Rey apparently inherits this trait from her mother. It’s an inborn knack. So the book seems to be going back and explaining how Rey was so good at it from the get-go. Does it bother me that the book is trying to fill in some holes in the films? Not really. I figured because Rey had the Force, maybe a lot of things came naturally to her. That it came from her mother only makes it more special.

There’s also a situation that I never really thought about until I read this book. When Rey is left behind on Jakku by her parents, they take off in Ochi of Bestoon’s ship. That’s how she recognizes it later on Pasaana. But…why were they on the ship that belonged to the guy who was chasing them? Well, this book explains that, too. So it’s answering questions I never knew I had!

We get a lot more insight into Lando Calrissian and his grief over his missing daughter, Kadara. I feel like this is mostly Lando’s story, and that I know him much better now than before. I can’t say the same for Luke, though. He seems strangely flat to me. I think the author is trying to show him as the calm, collected Jedi Master, but it only makes him seem, I don’t know, empty–like he doesn’t have a personality anymore. It’s disappointing. There’s no character arc for him, except to find this Sith villain, face it and defeat it; but there’s no personal challenges or changes. He’s exactly the same throughout the entire book, while Lando struggles with his grief, his purpose, his impatience, his not knowing. In other words, Lando is portrayed as a flesh and blood human being with flaws, while Luke is…kind of boring. I feel like the author was maybe afraid to do anything with Luke for fear of being criticized like Rian Johnson was for what he did with him in The Last Jedi. And that’s unfortunate, because I was really hoping for a great Luke story, and I didn’t get one.

Otherwise, the rest of the story was quite good and I did enjoy it.

So Padawan by Kiersten White will release on Tuesday the 26th, and I’m looking forward to this one. It’s a YA novel about Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi, and anything Obi-Wan is exciting to me! Can’t wait to dig into that one.

I noticed on Disney+ that the Assembled episode for Dr. Strange and the Multiverse of Madness was released, and I gladly watched it even though MOM wasn’t my favorite Dr. Strange story. I always feel a huge appreciation for all the incredible amount of work and the armies of people that are involved in making these stories come to life, just so we can enjoy ourselves for a couple of hours, lol. Bravo.

So after finishing up Stranger Things Season 4, I was poking around Netflix to maybe find something else to watch, and there are a few movies I’d like to watch in the near future, even though I’ve seen quite few of them. But I came across the TV show Merlin, which came out in 2008 and ran until 2012. I watched every episode when it came out and loved it, and decided to revisit it.

It’s a more family-friendly version of the Arthurian legend, so it’s been defanged quite a bit, but it makes up for it in charm. I’ve rewatched the first episode so far, and it’s going to be great fun revisiting this show. Anybody ever watched it?

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

A Jedi’s connection with animals

I thought I’d return to my list-like format for a bit with a few post ideas I’ve been thinking about. This one’s been in my draft pile for awhile now, and it seemed as good a time as any to actually write it out and share with you.

I’m a big animal lover, and I’ve always loved how some Jedi are particularly connected to animals, either through the Force or just because they’re compassionate people. Here’s five examples that came to my mind:

Obi-Wan and Boga. We all remember how Obi-Wan made use of a veractyl, a lizard-like creature on Utupau, while he pursued General Grievous. We don’t learn too much about it in the movie, but in the novelization of Revenge of the Sith (by Mathew Stover, it’s fantastic, please please please read it!), we learn that Obi-Wan connected with the animal through the Force, and that her name was Boga. We learn of Obi-Wan’s preference for riding animals rather than starships in the book Master and Apprentice, by Claudia Gray. In the book, he rides another veractyl and enjoys the experience, while having a rather harrowing experience on a ship that causes him to hate flying. We also see in the series Obi-Wan Kenobi that he is simply kind to animals when he takes some meat from his butcher job to bring to his eopie.

Ezra and lothcats, lothwolves, purgil, and most other animals. While Obi-Wan (and probably most Jedi) can connect with animals through the Force, Ezra Bridger seems to have a natural talent for connecting with them. In Rebels he connects with lothcats, lothwolves, and the purgil, and probably some other ones I’m not remembering. While his companions, and even Kanan sometimes, dismiss the importance of animals in a given situation, Ezra seems to zero in on them and connect with them on a whole other level. Kanan is forced by Bendu to connect with the spider creatures on the Rebel base, and the lothwolf Dume is connected to him by relaying his special purpose on Lothal, but it’s Ezra that seems to understand them best. It’s one of the reasons I love that kid so much, lol.

Bell and Ember. In the High Republic books, a Padawan named Bell Zettifar has a pet charhound named Ember. The fact that a Jedi is allowed to have a pet shows how different this era of Jedi is. It’s not encouraged, but neither is it frowned upon, at least in Bell and Ember’s case. The two share a bond that is special, and while I’m not sure if it’s a Force connection, the two are very important to each other. Ember has also been a great help in several sticky situations that Bell found himself in, and without her he might have failed or died. They’re devoted to each other and it’s really very sweet. It makes sense, too, as Bell sees the Force as fire, and Ember can breathe flames. They’re meant for each other!

Rey and the vexis. In The Rise of Skywalker, Rey and her friends encounter a (very large and angry) serpent in some underground tunnels. Poe wants to blast it, but Rey intuits that there’s something wrong, and indeed, the beast has been wounded and is hissing aggressively. She bravely steps toward it and Force heals it. Once healed, it uncoils and slithers away. I don’t think Rey has a particular connection to animals like Ezra, but I like how, like a true Jedi, she doesn’t immediately want to destroy something that scares her (except maybe Palpatine, but that’s a different story, lol).

Ahsoka and Morai. Ahsoka is often seen trailed by a convor called Morai. We see the owl-like bird in Rebels, and also in The Mandalorian (and possibly The Clone Wars, I can’t remember). The bird is a guardian and protector of Ahsoka, and is linked with The Daughter from the Mortis arc in the Clone Wars. In that arc, Ahsoka dies and the Daughter resurrects her. The Daughter also dies in the arc, and Morai seems to be the spirit of the Daughter guiding and protecting Ahsoka. It’s a Force connection, but also a spiritual one that makes it a little more mysterious. Morai isn’t a pet or even a constant companion; she comes and goes depending on what’s happening.

Grogu and the rancor. In The Book of Boba Fett, Boba’s rancor is running rampant in Mos Espa, wreaking havoc and destroying everything in its path. He’s angry and lost without his master, but Boba is otherwise occupied at the moment with Cad Bane. Din Djarin tries to control him, but is thrown from his back. Grogu sees the beast’s distress, and toddles away from Peli to confront him. Not to hurt him, but to calm him. He reaches out his little hand and connects with the rancor, putting him to sleep. Drained, he then walks up to the creature and falls in a heap next to him to sleep as well. It’s the cutest thing, but then again, Grogu is cute all the time. But it shows how much he’s learned from his time with Luke; instead of lashing out fearfully at what scares him, he’s learned to connect with others and control his power.

That’s all I could think of. Did I miss anything? What’s your favorite Jedi/animal connection? Let me know in the comments and we’ll talk about it!

My Entertainment Weekend Update

Hello my friends, and happy weekend!

So I’m continuing my read of Shadow of the Sith, and it’s quite enjoyable. Now that I’m in the middle of the book, it’s basically been “Rey and her parents are being chased by Ochi and the Sith, Ochi is being chased by Luke and Lando, and Rey’s parents are managing to stay one step ahead of everybody. For now.” Even though I know how it ends for Rey and her parents, I’m eager to see what happens before all that, as well as how Ochi comes to his end on Pasaana.

Thor: Love and Thunder was fun but flat.

I went to the theater to see Thor: Love and Thunder, and while it was a fun and enjoyable movie, it just didn’t have the same weight as any of the other Thor films. While I love MCU humor, and Taika Waititi’s particular brand of humor, I feel it went way over the top in this one. Taika’s other outing with Thor, Ragnorok, had the same wonderful humor in it, but there was still some depth to Thor and his arc in that movie. Here, Thor seems almost like a clown, and I think that’s a disservice to the character. Jane Foster’s arc was much more interesting, but everything else just seemed like a big joke. Again, I love MCU humor, but it needs to be used sparingly as comedic relief, not carry the entire movie (I loved the screaming goats, though, lol). It was fun, and my 7-year old grandson loved it, but ultimately it’s fairly forgettable. With the slight disappointment I had in Dr. Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, I feel like Marvel may be slipping in the feature film department, while excelling in the TV series format (can’t wait for Loki Season 2, and ooh, maybe a Moon Knight Season 2?)

My other, and more engrossing, entertainment this week has been binging Season 4 of Stranger Things. Whoa, what a wild ride! After several years of waiting, I had almost forgotten how much I loved the show and didn’t really care if I watched it or not. But I’m so glad I did. It didn’t bother me that there were like, five different storylines to follow, because they were all so great. Stranger Things has always had a crazy storyline, and yeah, the nostalgia is fun (I was these kids’ age in the 80s), but what I love the most are the fantastic characters. The usual crew is wonderful, but the new or supporting characters are always super-fun, whether it’s over-the-top Murray, the mysterious Enzo, the stoner pizza guy Argyle, or my personal favorite (and a lot of other people’s, too), the D&D-playing, metal music-playing Eddie, who looks tough but has a heart of gold. His Metallica-inspired distraction in the Upside Down is pure gold, and his arc is simply heartbreaking.

The other kids do a good job navigating their personal problems while trying to save the world, lol. While I rooted for Jonathan to be with Nancy in previous seasons, now I’m going the other way and rooting for Steve again. I just want that kid to be happy. 😦 And I’ve always rooted for Hopper and Joyce, I mean, come on. It’s funny, now that I’ve watched Visions, in particular “The Eder,” in which David Harbour voices the Qui Gon Jinn-like Jedi Master, whenever Hopper speaks all I can think of is him dispensing Jedi wisdom to his Padawan.

I thought Will was brilliantly acted by Noah Schnapp. His character didn’t have much to do in this season except look sad and give Mike pep talks about Eleven, but there’s clearly something eating at him, and I think we all know what it is. And it’s Noah’s acting and the excellent writing that proves you don’t have to come right out and say something in order for the audience to understand it. The scene where Jonathan talks to Will in the pizza place, telling him that no matter what, he’s his brother and he loves him and will always be there for him, well, that just broke me. Brilliant. Hopefully Will have more to do in the next season, considering he was so pivotal in the first few.

Aside from everyone’s personal problems and love lives, I thought Vecna was an interesting villain. It adds to the concept of the Upside Down, kind of re-writes it without contradicting what came before. Good stuff.

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

My Entertainment Weekend Update: Shadow of the Sith Edition

Hello friends, and happy weekend!

I received my copy of Shadow of the Sith by Adam Christopher, and eagerly began reading it. It’s a big book (almost 500 pages!) and I’m about 150 pages in and really enjoying it. Basically, it’s the story of Luke and Lando searching for Ochi of Bestoon, which was mentioned by Lando in The Rise of Skywalker. It takes place about 20 years after Return of the Jedi, and about 13 years before The Force Awakens.

There’s some SPOILERY stuff ahead for Shadows of the Sith, so if you haven’t read it yet and think you might want to, proceed cautiously. I haven’t read the whole thing, but I’d like to mention what I’ve read so far.

So this book brings a lot of threads from various Star Wars periods and media together. Ochi of Bestoon, as mentioned in TROS, was seeking Rey and her parents by order of the Sith and Sidious. We see Rey’s parents–Dathan and Miramir–fleeing with Rey across the galaxy, trying to get away from the Sith, and Ochi pursuing them. I think we’re going to get Dathan and Miramir’s story in flashbacks here, which is something I’ve wanted since seeing the sequel trilogy.

We see Luke on the planet Ossus with his new Jedi Order he’s been training, including Ben Solo. But he’s been having visions of a dark, evil place, which turns out to be Exegol. He’s visited by Lor San Tekka (seen at the beginning of The Force Awakens), who is a member of The Church of the Force. Luke and San Tekka have traveled the galaxy together in search of Jedi artifacts and lore, in Luke’s attempt to rebuild the Order. Luke tells him about his visions, and though San Tekka can’t help him, he brings him to the planet Yortuba, on which an archeological dig is taking place.

The dig is being helmed by Beaumont Kin (Dominic Monahan’s character from TROS), and while there, they discover an old Sith holocron and some shards of red kyber crystal. Luke takes both artifacts to the old Jedi temple on Tython and sits on the seeing stone. While meditating on the crystals, he once again finds himself at Exegol, only this time, he’s really there. He’s attacked by nine strange beings, who seem to be Sith acolytes with lightsabers. He’s saved by the intervention of a force ghost–his father, Anakin Skywalker (awesome!). Anakin warns him that a dark threat is looming, and is rather cryptic about it before disappearing. Luke finds himself back on Tython, and that’s when Lando shows up.

So in the meantime, Lando had been gambling on a space station called Sennifer’s Balance and Beam, and overheard Ochi of Bestoon talking with some cohorts about kidnapping a girl, and being “reactivated” by the Sith (he’d been on Exegol with Vader at one point in the Darth Vader comic series, which I haven’t read–but you don’t have to to understand the story).

What caught Lando’s attention is Ochi’s mention of kidnapping a girl–and here we learn that Lando’s own daughter, Kadara Calrissian, had been kidnapped six years ago when she was two. He’d spent the time since scouring the galaxy looking for her, for any clue that might lead to her, and hadn’t really found anything. He decided to get involved, if only to do some kind of good and take his mind off his own daughter, and had gone to Luke because of the mention of the Sith.

In the meantime, we see a Pantoran woman with an ancient Sith mask, a mask that has mostly taken over her mind and she does its will. This woman is Kiza, a character we see in some of the interludes in the Aftermath books. I’m not sure yet what role she’ll play in the story, except that she’s involved in the dark evil that is looming in Luke’s mind.

So yeah, a lot going on here, with lots of different threads that will ultimately come together. I feel like it’s a pretty important book as far as canon goes. You don’t necessarily have to be familiar with all the source material that it borrows from, but it’s neat to make the connections.

In the meantime, I’ve set Black Spire aside (it’s awfully slow sometimes) until I finish this book, but I’m still reading Bloodline on the Kindle.

That’s really it this week, which is why I decided to get a bit detailed about Shadow of the Sith.

And, oh yeah, Thor: Love and Thunder opened yesterday, and I’m hoping to go see it while I’m on vacation this coming week. It looks super-fun, and I can’t wait to see it!

What’s been entertaining you? Let me know in the comments and we’ll talk about it!

My Entertainment Weekend Update

Hello friends, and happy weekend!

I’ve been continuing my Black Spire read, and I’m about halfway done. I’m waiting for my copy of Shadow of the Sith from Amazon, but it looks like I won’t get it until early next week. I’m eager to read it, but at least now I have some time to finish Black Spire before I start that one.

On Kindle, I’m re-reading Claudia Gray’s Bloodline. One, because it’s one of my favorite canon novels, and two, because I just want more Leia right now. Feeling the post- Obi-Wan Kenobi blues, lol. At the end of July, Padawan by Kiersten White will release, and so I’ll get some more Obi-Wan goodness.

That’s really it for Star Wars right now.

I had been planning on re-watching Dr. Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, but honestly, I’m just not feeling it right now. It was a fun, enjoyable movie–but I don’t love it the way I love his origin story. Which makes me sad, because Dr. Strange is one of my favorite Marvel characters. I guess I just feel like it was more about Wanda/The Scarlet Witch than Dr. Strange. I find Wanda an interesting character, but this was supposed to be about Steven Strange, and she ended up kind of stealing the show. And that makes me kind of grumpy, lol. Anyway, I’ll rewatch it one of these days, and then we’ll see how I feel.

Another show I’ve been thinking about is Stranger Things Season 4. I really got into the first three seasons, but again, I’m just not feeling it right now. Not enough to subscribe to Netflix for a month in order to watch it. Maybe it was gone for too long and it fell off my radar. Maybe I just need to watch the first episode to get back into it. I don’t know; all I want to do is rewatch Obi-Wan Kenobi, lol.

Not much else this week. Kind of boring. To make it a bit more interesting, here’s a few fan art pieces I found and adore:

Another wonderful piece by the talented Uzuri Art. Obi-Wan and his memories of the people he loved.

What’s been entertaining you? Let me know in the comments and we’ll talk about it!