The Force Awakens: New and Old Generations

I never thought that in 1983 when I walked out of the theater after watching Return of the Jedi that 32 years later my world would be wrapped up in the Star Wars Universe, again.  Star Wars has been tugging at me over the last several years with the release of the prequel (interesting for the story, but left a little to be desired with acting and CGI animation heavy) films, the Clone Wars animated series (genius), and more recently the Rebels animated series (closing in on the genius of the Clone Wars).  But on Thanksgiving weekend of 2014, my world was turned upside down as The Force Awakens Episode VII teaser was released.  I couldn't believe my eyes that this was a reality.

Off to see The Force Awakens

Fast forward to December 2015.  I re-watched all six episodes, reviewed key Clone Wars episodes and watched episodes IV through VI a second time prior to The Force Awakens weekend.  I have watched every episode of Rebels several times, read all the new Marvel, canon, comics, read Star Wars Tarkin, A New Dawn, and Aftermath.  I attended the Indiana Comic Con to hear Carrie Fisher address the audience and hang on every word for any hint she might give in regards to The Force Awakens.  I attended the midnight opening of the Force Friday toy release.  I even hosted a Star Wars Reads Day event in October at work.  I also have had the pleasure and honor to meet and work with the co-hosts of the internationally known podcast, Coffee with Kenobi, Dan Zehr and Cory Clubb.   I have bathed in Star Wars building up to the December opening weekend of The Force Awakens.  My biggest fear was how could this movie possibly live up to the hype, the mythology, the modern day scrutiny, the hyper-media focused public eye and opinion?  I had massive anxiety as I drove to the theater.
But that is me.  The "old" generation of Star Wars fandom.  The believers of the force.  I grew up with the Millennium Falcon as my visual concept of what an awesome space ship would look like.  I grew up with the nightmare of what it would be to face Darth Vader and the empowering hope that even I, some nobody from a small town, could rise to face the evil in the world.  That there is a force that we can use for good or evil.  I am old-school, but I am not the only Star Wars fan any more.  I have a new generation of Star Wars fan in my own house (thanks to my persistence but I'm not sure if the hype of this film wouldn't have turned her to geekdom even if I hadn't).
My daughter, 8 years old, is the same age as I was when I first watched the rolling text and the Star Wars fanfare open the movie.  The only difference is I had the drum roll and 20th Century Fox logo and she has a Disney logo.  It has been so exciting for me to watch all the movies, Rebels and some of the Clone Wars episodes with her.  The questions she asks me are the same questions my friends and I would ask 30-some years ago: Is Vader really Luke's father?  Will they find Han Solo?  Who is this Jabba the Hutt guy?  Why don't 3-PO and R2 ever get shot when they cross the laser bolts?  Why can't a Stormtrooper ever actually hit someone?  What happened to Obi Wan's body when the lightsaber slashed through the robes?  Didn't Luke kill Vader in the cave?  Wait, what?  She asked them all.
What has been so fantastic is that this, The Force Awakens, is her Star Wars movie.  This time, we will both ask the questions together and we will discover the answers together too.  Rey, Finn, Poe and BB-8 are her heroes while mine are still Han, Leia, Chewie and Luke.  My villain was Vader;  hers is Kylo Ren.  She thinks her villain is so much cooler than mine, but I remind her that her villain worships mine.  Then I watch the eye roll...I am loving this. Like I said in the opening, I never thought 32 years later that I would be experiencing a new Star Wars with the same excitement, but I never thought that I would be sharing it with my own children.  I will share our experience of seeing the film soon in another post, but after seeing the movie, she asked, "How many more movies will there be, because I don't want this to end."  My response was there will be three movies over the next several years,  but how awesome would it be if after those three movies a whole new story started again when she is 45 like me.  After saying that, I saw my daughter look away in to the distance as if she was looking into a twin star sunset with her thoughts on the future, dreaming what that might be like to share this experience with her own children.  A dream for her, but it is my Star Wars reality.
 

Marvel Unlimited - You've got to try it!!

I enjoy going back and reading many of the back issues of the Marvel comics I have collected over the years. Currently, I am rereading the Infinity trilogy with the Infinity Gauntlet, the Infinity War, and now the Infinity Crusade.  I will soon be moving on to the New Warriors and Guardians of the Galaxy.  Often, I have a few holes in my collection with missing issues that would be nice to be able to read to fill in a complete story.  

A couple years ago, I gave the Marvel Unlimited digital comic subscription a try and really liked the availability to read some stories and backgrounds of some of my favorite characters.  I read many of the original Dr. Strange stories that show up in the Strange Tales title which give tons of background of that great character.  I also enjoyed the stories of the Human Torch who actually was the feature of those titles.  

Now that I have moved into the Infinity Crusade, I am reminded of how these massive storylines started doing massive crossovers that we see today.  So I have used the Marvel Unlimited to fill in the many holes I have in my old print copy collection.  There are many issues not available in Unlimited, but there are enough to make it enjoyable to finally get many of the side stories.  

Here is my problem with Marvel Unlimited as I write today.  Somehow, I have gotten into the beta version of the comic reader and I am having a difficult time reading the text.  They have a two-page option viewer, a one-page viewer, and a smart panel viewer.  I really like the options because you can get the "double-truck" pictures that often accompany an opening, closing, or huge battle or explosion.  The single-page view is nice to see all other art juxtaposed on a single page, but neither of these options is especially good for reading.  The smart panel option brings the text closer for reading, but the problem I am having is that it cuts the edge of the page on both sides and I miss any text that is close to the edge of the pages.  I thought I would be able to pull the page around to read, but that is not possible.  

So, I wonder if anyone else has had this experience and has a fix.  Or perhaps a Marvel web surfer will come across this and send me a personal fix or a way to switch off the beta viewer.  I do like the viewer except for this one problem.  I also give the Unlimited subscription a high recommendation.  I look forward weekly to seeing what issues they add. 

Update January 2024: My problem with the app in 2014 has been remedied by 2024.  This app continues to be amazing and they continue to add books to the app with over 10K on the app currently.  

Dungeons and Dragons Fun

If you have about an hour and a half, you can still get in a great, exciting Dungeons and Dragons adventure.  This tabletop board game uses figures, dungeon tiles that come out randomly as characters move to the edges of each tile, treasure, encounter, and monster cards that drive the action. A basic adventure goal like escaping from the under dark or destroying Shimmergloom in the Legend of Drizzt game leads the adventurers on from tile to tile.  This game is an old fashion D&D dungeon crawl or brawl as monsters are always coming at the characters along with dungeon encounters such as poison gases, cave-ins, and lava vents blowing up!  This game is a real challenge to defeat, and every game has a different path to the conclusion that is if you ever get to the goal encounter.
One of the reasons I paid the premium price, $60.00 or so, is that the game is compatible with other D&D board games as well as the awesome player vs. player Dungeon Command, so I can combine my game with friends' games.  Also, the game can be played by 1-5 players, so that when I can't get together with my friends, which is often after working 2 jobs and raising two kids, I can get a game in on my own.
If you have played this game, what are your thoughts?

Thanos...Nuff Said

I love Marvel Comics, and I fall into the pit of buying into as many of the major crossovers as I can.  I really enjoy the collaborative efforts of the heroes when things get especially difficult.  Namely when that mad titan Thanos gets an itch.  This summer anyone in the know with Marvel Comics saw the Infinity storyline.  While I was glued to the pages, I pined for some old Thanos stories.  

A couple weeks ago when the weather had just been to cold to do anything but sit around the house, I was browsing the shelves at my local comic shop, Acme Comics.  As if fate led me there, I discovered right on the shelf, one copy of the single edition reprint of Thanos Quest.  The tale of Thanos's acquisition of the Infinity Gems.  I read the story years ago, but I did not have it in my own colleciton; I do now.  I soaked up the ultimate power and cunning of Thanos as he gathered up the Infinity Gems.  Now I have moved on to a re-reading of The Infinity Gauntlet.  What a great story with great characters!  

I had forgotten how much I liked Adam Warlock and what would become his Infinity Watch team.  Warlock uses the Earth's mightiest heroes including the Avengers, Spiderman, Namor, Dr. Strange, a couple mutant heroes, Wolverine, Cyclops and Scarlet Witch and many other as pawns in this galactic myth.  As the team musters at the Avengers mansion, the feelings of massive power give me the feeling that these guys can't be denied.  Then the pages turn to Warlock's meeting with the Silver Surfer, Quasar (another of my favorite characters who has faded from the pages of Marvel's books lately) and his mentor Epoch.  That isn't all though, a double-truck page reveals the true members of this alliance to be the Watcher, Lord Chaos and Master Order, Kronos the Titan God, the Stranger, Love and Hate, two Celestials, Galactus, Eternity, and the Living Tribunal.  These powerful entities next to Earth's mighty heroes makes the heroes seem small and insignificant.  In fact, Warlock tells surfer, "Our Allies' power is less than nothing against Thanos' might.  They stand defeated before the battle has even begun. The true purpose of their attack is merely diversionary.  They are sacrificial lambs."  Earth's heroes enter a massive battle Thanos.  Warlock's plan almost works, but Thanos slips away with a victory. 

The story continues with more heroic team-ups which is what keeps me coming back to these stories with Thanos.  He is not one who can be dealt with individually, but only with power and cunning from teams of heroes.  In my eyes, he is arguably the most awesome villain in the Marvel Universe.   

Marvel's Infinity...Worth the Wait

The comics have been flying around the house.  I just reread the Galactic Storm crossover from the 1990's, and I finished the A vs X and Age of Ultron miniseries.  I will comment on those later, along with my thoughts about Superior Spiderman, but I am quite interested in the ongoing Infinity series.  Of course, anyone who reads or used to read my blog knows, I am a Marvel fan and don't really venture into other comic lines.  The pocketbook just doesn't allow me to do much in the way of venturing out, so I stick to what I know and that is Marvel. 

After the somewhat disappointing Age of Ultron and A vs. X, I have been really satisfied with the Infinity storyline.  Thanos seems to be a can't miss villain, but what I have really enjoyed with this story is that Thanos, so far, has been a side story to a larger threat that draws the Avengers off Earth.  I am curious as to what others are thinking regarding the Infinity series.  I do wish that the Guardians of the Galaxy have played a more major role from the beginning especially since J'son of Spartax, Peter Quill's father, is a major player.  

Long way away, but

I know it is almost a year from now, but I already can't wait.




Still need to see Captain America and Thor.

Unplugged

So, I took the summer off from blogging. Partly from laziness and partly from the fact that I did not want to spend my summer in front of a computer. In fact, aside from the occasional email checks, Facebook updates, a few baseball and Tour de France updates (mostly done from my phone), I tried to stay offline as much as possible. It was somewhat liberating. I spent a lot of time teaching RPM at the Riverplex and teaching cycling at the Loop...actually, these consumed lots of time this summer. I trained in Body Combat. And I spent as much of the time left with my family.
I did from time-to-time wonder what I was missing in my RSS feed, but after a few quick scans of it, there wasn't much. A few postings from friends that I caught up on, but most professional stuff was "stuff" that could wait.
Regardless of the peace over the summer, I plan to get back in the swing of things and spout more Supposedly Interesting Things in upcoming weeks/months.

UPDATE 8/24/26:

Wow!  How life has changed for me 15 years later!  My kids aren't really "kids" anymore (college and high school), and I don't teach RPM, Body Combat, or cycling at The Loop anymore.  I retired from group fitness classes about 4 years ago.  I haven't watched the Tour de France in probably 5 years, but I still find myself trying to find ways to "Unplug."  

I teach my students that unplugging from technology is healthy.  Studies show that individuals who spend too much time on screens are more likely to suffer from anxiety and depression.  Well, I ain't got time for that, so I try to find as many blocks as I can to unplug.  I find that my computer isn't the one that I have to unplug from like I did 15 years ago.  I really need to unplug from my phone.  

So when you are done reading this, shut down, take a walk, read a book, listen to music (like really listen), or go sit with someone you love and see how their day was and maybe make plans to do something together.