HokieStone

My feeling is that Filoni is doing his Filoni thing and using this series (and the next several series/movies?) to give a plausible reason as to how we ended up with the "First Order" and the state of events at the start of the sequel trilogy. It seems that he's going to do that by making Thrawn the "savior" of the Imperial remnants. So, I expect Thrawn to be around a while, and this series may even end with Ahsoka's death - and pehaps Ezra's as well. Got to explain somehow why they aren't around in the timeframe of the sequels, and make Thrawn appear uber-competent. Maybe Ezra's death comes in the next series...I dunno...or maybe he dies down the line as he takes out Thrawn for good (but the path to the "First Order" has been achieved). But I wonder if he was setting up Baylan to take the role of Joruus C'baoth from Zahn's original books. Hell, maybe even reveal that "Baylan Skoll" is a pseudonym he used to hide during the purge of Jedi, and his real name is Jorus C'baoth. Anyway, that's all pure conjecture on my part, and would certainly be complicated by Ray Stevenson's death. But, I imagine the character can be recast - I mean, if Dumbledore can be recast in the Harry Potter movies, surely just about any role can be recast (although it would be really really really weird to see other actors taking on the parts of Han, Leia and Luke...)

I have never in my life heard of "One Piece", whatever that is. And "Disney" is #10? What is defined by "Disney"?

She is absolutely a minor character in the overall scheme of things. She made a very brief appearance in ROTJ - where she was not called by name, nor was her position mentioned - she was just presented as some sort of figure with authority. She was cut out of the prequels altogether, and her fate was not mentioned in the sequel trilogy (as much as many people would like to dismiss both the PT and ST). She got some screen time in Rogue One (I can't recall if her name was actually used), and then of course she was a main character in Andor. But in the overall SW universe...no. Prior to Andor (maybe R1), we only really knew her name and position from secondary sources.

Well, that's what he looked like at the end of Rebels...and putting head-tails on him wouldn't have cost any extra in animation. So...<shrug>

Seems like most fans of current ACC schools were against the addition of Stanford, Cal and SMU. The two things that seem to be driving it are 1) those 3 schools aren't taking a full share for 10 years, so everyone else gets a little more money and 2) apparently there's a clause in the ESPN contract that they can renegotiate if the ACC falls below 15 school, so now even if FSU and Clemson bail in the near future, the ACC won't fall below that threshold. Regarding the travel for non-revenue sports, there's this idea being floated that all games against the new 3 schools will be held somewhere in Texas. Which seems goofy...but everything about this conference realignment has been goofy. Anyway, my Hokies beat ODU to start the season 1-0. It wasn't a very convincing win, but last year we lost to ODU to start 0-1, so it's an improvement. I like Brent Pry as the head coach, but we have an OC and DC that are new. Rumor is that Mike Elko was also on the short list when we were looking for a head coach...and now I'm wondering if we made the right choice. This also his first time as a head coach, but he brought in experienced coordinators.

Jimmy Buffet has passed away at age 76. https://apnews.com/article/obituary-jimmy-buffett-4295f355b39237f40663d485c4c6d557

So, I've seen blurbs that Memory, Sorrow and Thorn was an inspiration for GRRM to write ASOIAF. And, as I make my way through the first book, I'm certainly seeing some parallels. There's a "Hand of the King", and a bandit that wears a helm shaped like a "snarling hound". The Sithi certainly invite comparisons to the Others. I believe one of the titular swords is made of metal from a meteorite, like Dawn in ASOIAF.

I decided to re-read the "Memory, Sorrow and Thorn" trilogy. I last read it...I dunno, 30 years ago? I remember really liking it, and I know there's been some new books in the series (or a follow-up series, however you want to look at it). I'm about 1/3 through "The Dragonbone Chair" - I pretty much have no recollection of my first read(other than enjoying it), so it's like it's new to me. Does seem to have some 1970's/80's fantasy clichés - Simon the kitchen boy obviously has some secret parentage which make him destined to be a hero. Pyrates is a little too "muhahahah" of a villain. I'm at the point where Simon is wandering the countryside, having fled the castle, and he seems to conveniently be running into situations/people that important/helpful. Still, I'm enjoying it. ETA: One other complaint - the map at the front of my 30 year old paperback is garbage - tiny print, and not much detail. I printed off a better one found online and keep it tucked away in the front cover.

Hera's line "I'm a General, nothing is classified for me" was incredibly cringe-worthy. Just tells me that the writers know absolutely nothing about how intelligence classification works. (Not that this is anything new for Hollywood)

Watched just the first episode...and the "logic" problem with a show set in this era is...when Ahsoka sees video of two Sith-like force-wielders, why isn't her first call to Luke? I'm assuming they've met at this point, although it's a little unclear where this is in the time line compared to when we see her with Luke when he's training Grogu. And I assume he already asked her "where the hell were you when I was fighting the Emperor and my father by myself?"

My post Gen Con report: After avoiding it for all this time, Gen Con was finally the place that I caught COVID :(. I guess being around 70000 most unmasked folks was asking too much. However, that didn't hit me until after I was back. Overall, it was an interesting experience. It's definitely huge and overwhelming. I spent a lot of my time running demos for my game, so I didn't sign up for any events. Did get to spend some time wandering the convention hall, and on the last day I had an exhibitor badge, so I was inside when they opened up the doors and the stampede came in. My random notes: - The big buzz at the con was for "Lorcana" - a CCG using all the Disney IPs. There were lines hours long for it. I don't get it, myself - but I'm not a CCG guy. - It was crazy to walk into the Colt's stadium and see the field covered with tables for gaming. It wasn't full...at least when I went in there, but it was still a sight. - I was still discovering new areas of the con up until the last day. They had a whole hallway filled with pinball machines, for example. - Other interesting "sights" were the giant balloon sculpture of the Apollo 11 moon landing, and "Cardhalla" - using old Magic cards to build giant card towers during the week...and then it all gets destroyed on Sunday - I flew, so not a lot of room to bring home purchases. The one "hot" game I did pick up was "Sky Team", a 2-player co-op where you play as the pilot and co-pilot trying to land a plane. It's dice placement, and limited communication, you have to time everything right so you reach the airport just as you descend to 0 altitude, while being level, and having your landing gear down, and brakes deployed. It's pretty fun. - On a personal note, demos of my game went well, everyone that played seemed to like it. I wish we'd had copies for sale, but hopefully it was building a little buzz for the release this Christmas.

A last minute change in plans, means I'll be heading to my first Gen Con next week. Won't get there until late Thursday night, but Fri-Sun I'll be mostly demoing the new version of Santa's Workshop at the Elf Creek booth. When I'm not there, I guess I'll be wandering around, absorbing my first Gen Con...

Pretty sure they said at one point they were going to launch a nuke. And no, the whole double key thing isn't used for regular missiles (and that may even be a trope that isn't necessarily accurate for nukes). Also...I take it that Gravik injected himself with the Extremis serum? (And I'm also guessing G'iah has as well...)

Ok, I'm dumb I guess. Were they going to use a sub to launch a nuke to take down a single airplane? That seems like...overkill.

Time Travel/Multiverse thing, huh? Seems a little overdone lately...

Interesting cameo in the Flash revealed...

Saw GOTG3 last night. It definitely went for the emotion, although a little over the top in my mind. The "family" bickering...I get it...but sometimes it was just outright mean and nasty. And the suits that Nathan Fillion and his guards wore...what? I found the first post-credit scene a little odd...

After hearing about Elric of Melnibone for...well, decades...I'm finally getting around to reading the stories. TBH, I'm finding it a struggle. I got Volume 1 of an anthology at Barnes & Noble, and my understand is that the stories are in chronological order, rather than the original published order. So the first story was about Elric combating his cousin for the throne, and how he got his sword, Stormbringer. It was...ok, I guess. Felt a bit dated (probably because it is). The second story, which I'm in now, is called "Fortress of the Pearl" - and it's a slog. It's mostly about him and a "dream thief" traversing various lands of dreams as they try to awaken a little girl who's been put into some kind of magical coma. And, oh by the way, he's doing this because he's been given some kind of slow acting poison, and needs to find the titular pearl to give to his poisoner. So...I dunno how long I'm going to stick with it. I was expecting some sort of charismatic anti-hero with his magic sword having adventures, and I'm getting a whiny guy who doesn't even get to have the sword for most of the story.

I stuck it out to the end...and one of the things that I was most incredulous about was that Maggie just didn't straight up kill Negan. They really bent over backwards to avoid having that happen...and now they're in a new show together?!?! It just does not make sense.

Got to play my deluxe copy of Darwin's Journey this past weekend. I had high hopes for this, and it did not disappoint. Significantly more complex game than I had originally realized - and sure enough in our first play, I missed a key rule that really screwed me...but I suppose that's what first plays are for. Second game went much smoother. There's an interesting worker training dynamic, so that you can only send workers to spots that are trained in certain disciplines. Really...too much for me to try and explain here, but I really did enjoy the game. It came packed with a bunch of built-in expansions, I'm looking forward to trying them out...but there's certainly a lot of replayability in the base game.

According to the comic series, they're doing A LOT during those time periods. I think the comics are supposed to be part of the new canon...but it's ridiculous, really - the comic stories are, in a sense, much more grandiose and larger in scale than the actual movies.

Last I checked, Cape Cod was attached to the rest of Massachusetts....

Ok...I gotta say, this is looking halfway decent. I know, I know...Crystal Skull trailers looked good too....

Obligatory wood for sheep joke. I didn't realize that he won the Spiel de Jares 4 times - and Settlers was the last of his games to win.

They're remaking Fatal Attraction?!