Didn’t they already try to bomb a boat that Greta could’ve been on like a month ago?

I watch a bit of Dropout and on one of their shows there was a bit where they had a celebrity judge and they were doing a survivor parody, I think. Can’t remember who the celebrity was, I guess it doesn’t matter. But Adam Conover was there, sort of randomly because he’d never been in an episode of that particular show before, and I remember thinking it was clear that he was only there because he was friends with the boss and must have wanted a chance to be around the celebrity guest. He just stuck out like a sore thumb because this was one of their improv shows which are entirely built around the actors’ rapport with one another, a sizable part of the appeal is that you can tell all the performers and crew are friends who are hanging out, and none of the other performers seemed to know what to do with or say to Adam. I didn’t necessarily feel like the other performers disliked Adam or anything, it was just very much the “friend of a friend who you don’t know or have anything in common with has come to the get-together and it’s making things slightly awkward” vibe.

Also he just wasn’t very funny.

I actually kinda like Rogue One but the main thing I remember about the movie is that when they properly introduce the blind monk character, Chirrut Îmwe, it’s in the middle of a fight and he shows up to knock out stormtroopers with his walking stick. And at first it’s sort of cool, but then it goes on forever, and it starts to feel silly, and you can feel the cracks in the choreography because you start to think “surely one of these guys would just shoot him in the back” and then the character is just there and basically doesn’t do or say anything of significance until his death scene. Sort of the problem of the entire movie in microcosm. Lots of interesting ideas for characters that don’t get much to do or say. Even the best fleshed out character, Jyn, feels contradictory and ultimately thinly characterized.

As I always say, the novelization is much better.

I love AOTC, on paper. A hard-boiled detective story; Star-crossed lovers; A political thriller; All set across the epic backdrop of space in an age where a once great government is coming to its end. What’s not to love?

In practice though if ROTS is a screw-up child, and TPM is like a kid who you thought was going to be president but then ended up as a working mid-tier stand-up comic like just enough to make a living but not enough to “make it”, then AOTC is a kid who grew up to be a serial killer.

Also I’m pretty sure the novelization is by R.A. Salvatore. I’ve not read it but I have read some of his other novels and the man’s not a miracle worker like Stover.

I love the version of AOTC that lives in my head, but every seven years or so when I convince myself to do a rewatch I find I just can’t enjoy it. Some really great ideas, but the execution of them is something else. I really think that with the right script doctor, some judicious editing, and maybe a second director who is just in charge of the actors, it could have been something really great. But what we’re left with is tough to love. But I respect you for doing what I can not.

Clearly it’s too late now, but I think the answer is to just jump into watching A New Hope.

Also I can’t believe we learn some of Luthen’s backstory. I just assumed he was someone a bit like Mon Mothma, using his real name and the real identity he had during the time of the Republic as an antiquities dealer as a cover for his rebel activities. Much more interesting to learn that he was an NCO with a penchant for artifacts who got fed up one day and made a choice of where to stand, just like the people he recruits. Interesting that it seems no one, not even Kleya, will ever know Luthen’s real name or who he really was before he rebelled.

Incredible that Tony Gilroy came along and just made the best thing Star Wars has put out since 1980. Why would he do that?

My personal enjoyment of the operatic tragedy that is Revenge of the Sith might edge out Andor, slightly, but loving ROTS is what I imagine it must feel like to have a kid who’s a real screw-up. You love them and you see all the best parts of them, but you can’t deny the mistakes they’ve made. But unlike ROTS I don’t needs to qualify my enjoyment of Andor. It’s not like twenty years from now I’m going to say “oh I like Andor but have you read the novelization? It completely realizes what that show was trying to do,” like I do now with both ROTS and Rogue One.

I think next paycheck I’m going to splurge and buy a lot of the old X-wing novel series if I can find one that’s not too high.

What an incredible face Genevieve O’Reilly pulled there, and what a good show. Can’t believe the spin-off streaming TV show for the only serviceable Star Wars movie Disney put out has becoming one of my GOATs.

Thinking about buying a lot of all the de-canonized X-wing novels just to get a fix. Even considering buying Alexander Freed’s sequel-era trilogy (Alphabet Squadron) because he wrote a good book about rebel grunts in the age of the empire (Twilight Company, which is actually a spin-off of the terrible fucking battlefront game Disney put out) and he also did the novelization for Rogue One, which I thought was quite good, better than the film. But my disdain for the sequel era stops me, for now.

Talked to the guy at work who loves WH40K and he said “You know that show made me switch from rooting for the Rebels to rooting for the Empire. Because you see in Andor they don’t have it that bad.”

And I said “haha yeah” because what can you even say to a statement so baldly wrongheaded.

Removed by mod

On the one hand I think an Oblivion remake is doomed to fail. So much of the charm and character of the original comes down to the jank. A janky engine with janky gameplay and worse graphics, but also one of the best games I’ve ever played.

On the other hand, I’m really looking forward to playing some of this. Will probably try to pirate this one, though.

You could make a good argument that the British Empire was the greatest empire that has ever existed in human history. That was like a century ago, maybe a bit more. Now look at them. Pathetic. You love to see it.