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Random thoughts

Legendary Sidekick

The HAM'ster
Moderator
[SPOILER ]Meesa likes the part where Jar Jar slips on a banana peel and causes a twelve tie-fighter pile-up. I LOL'd so hard I had to buy a new pair of jeans.[/SPOILER]
 

Legendary Sidekick

The HAM'ster
Moderator
I'm so glad they had two clones of him, so you could have little boy Anakin AND angsty teen Anakin. And man, did he get angsty when he lost to his younger self in that game of Super Podracio Kart. The wacky in-your-face CGI made up for stupid BB8 and his actual-functioning-robotness.

That's my only criticism. Why make a real robot that actually works when you can simulate one?
 

Tom

Istar
So I saw it...and I liked it so much I'm seeing it again with a friend who hasn't seen it yet! I'm still riding the I-just-saw-it-and-it-rocked high, so I haven't really formed any coherent opinions about the plot or characters. BUT IT WAS AWESOME.

Btw, my favorite part was where Jar Jar crashed the Millennium Falcon. :D
 

Devor

Fiery Keeper of the Hat
Moderator
Btw, my favorite part was where Jar Jar crashed the Millennium Falcon. :D

I mean, he crashed it right into the super friggin' city! I'm so glad he got out of that alive - it was awesome! He'll make a great villain in the sequels.
 

Devor

Fiery Keeper of the Hat
Moderator
Cyber Jabba seemed kinda meh after Legolas rode in on his tonton to rescue ewoks with his infallible Jedi archery.

Now seriously Sidekick, were sleeping right before that? I mean, Cyber Jabba was eating the Ewoks right before the Jedi arrow-flinging started up. There were two on the spit, turning over the fire, just like they did to Solo in Return of the Jedi, but with their fur shaved. The whole theater I was in was laughing and shrieking both. I mean, you don't get cooler than that.
 

Tom

Istar
Saw Star Wars again tonight. Friend's reactions were so fun to watch. She was literally on the edge of her seat for the entire thing. She's a huge Star Wars nerd too, so we were both laughing at all the little in-jokes and references sprinkled throughout. I LOVE the way this new installation feels like classic Star Wars. It's so true to the original trilogy--the aesthetic, the creatures, the effects, the music, everything.

Congrats, Disney, for not screwing up Star Wars.

My new favorite part is Jar Jar taking off his mask for the first time. Such a dramatic reveal! The emotional significance also makes it stand out--up until that point, Rey could effectively separate him from humanity, allowing her to hate what was simply a faceless monster. But when she could see his face, suddenly it became harder to do that. Presented with a face, she couldn't divorce him from his nature as a fellow human being*. She was forced to acknowledge that such a terrible foe could be a person just like her.

*Gungan, but whatever.
 
Saw Star Wars again tonight. Friend's reactions were so fun to watch. She was literally on the edge of her seat for the entire thing. She's a huge Star Wars nerd too, so we were both laughing at all the little in-jokes and references sprinkled throughout. I LOVE the way this new installation feels like classic Star Wars. It's so true to the original trilogy--the aesthetic, the creatures, the effects, the music, everything.

Congrats, Disney, for not screwing up Star Wars.

My new favorite part is Jar Jar taking off his mask for the first time. Such a dramatic reveal! The emotional significance also makes it stand out--up until that point, Rey could effectively separate him from humanity, allowing her to hate what was simply a faceless monster. But when she could see his face, suddenly it became harder to do that. Presented with a face, she couldn't divorce him from his nature as a fellow human being*. She was forced to acknowledge that such a terrible foe could be a person just like her.

*Gungan, but whatever.

Loved that reveal, but when she grabbed the Luger from Red Skull and shot zombie Greedo first that was just a stroke of post credit genius. Rey will return in Infinity War and I am stoked!
 
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MineOwnKing

Maester
I saw Stars Wars again today.

Good stuff.

I watched an interview with Daisy Ridley.

Typically I have no problem understanding all the varied accents of the UK.

But Daisy? That's a really, really thick accent. I have trouble understanding it.

Is it Pikey?
 

ushKee

Scribe
Star Wars was a very exciting experience for me. I didn't really like how similar it was to A New Hope, but overall it was great.

My favorite part was when the alien appeared in the pit at the beginning after BB-8 rolled past it in the sand- that's when you knew it was REAL Star Wars.

Also so glad this guy made a reappearance

niennunb.png
 
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Velka

Sage
Back to work today after a glorious week in Mexico.

Some highlights:
- Standing outside in -18C weather on yard duty, with memories of bathing suits and margaritas flashing between the staccato of my chattering teeth like a dystopian disco ball.
- Being told I have to attend a conference I really don't want to attend
- Having one of my students innocently reveal a huge Star Wars spoiler to me while reading her journal to me
- Dressed for an antarctic expedition, but the heater in my classroom is on the fritz so it was almost 30C
- Two of my plants died
- Coffee tasted like it was wrung out of a damp, week old dishcloth
- Still slightly jetlagged after arriving back home 24 hours beforehand

Good times.
 
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RE: the subject of tension.

Just started watching season 1 of the show 24, a show I'd avoided until now. Yep, it's good. Lots of tension. But I don't think it was intended to be watched in marathon sessions (me: on Amazon Prime.) A lot of the tricks for throwing kinks into the flow of the unfolding action begin to become annoying. You know that just as something is about to be resolved, something else is going to happen to get in the way of that resolution. Or, when chance encounters that could solve a situation are just about to happen, there'll be those two ships passing each other in the night and not seeing each other. Etc. Etc. Season 1 is a good crash course in the many ways tension can be created.
 

Heliotrope

Staff
Article Team
Tension is something I've also been paying really close attention to, because EVERYTHING I have read by agents and publishers say that the #1 reason manuscripts are rejected is because of not enough tension.

I am writing a treasure heist book for kids right now, and I wanted to play on some of the tropes of the typical heist story, so I've been have a heist marathon the past few nights. Oceans 12 is a great study in tension. It offers some wonderful examples of 'inherent tension' without it being full of 'episodic tension'. Like, for example:

- One of the thieves has a past romantic relationship with the detective that is hunting them.
- The detective hunting them became a detective because she resented her father (who was a famous thief).
- The detective's famous thief father is helping Ocean and his team.
- Ocean and his team have to steal enough money to pay back their last hit (who hunted them down) and they only have 2 weeks to do it…. but another thief wants to prove that he is the best thief in the world and challenges them to a competition, promising to pay their debt if they win.
- Tess (Ocean's wife) has to pretend to be Julia Roberts… but she is seen by Bruce Willis (as himself) and he wants to tag along.

So it isn't just "We must steal a treasure to pay a debt" and then episodic events in their way… there is a TON of built in inherent conflict to sustain the story and it is awesome.
 

Heliotrope

Staff
Article Team
Oh, and another example I read was lately in a book on crafting monsters, about Jaws.

So in Jaws, obviously the problem is the shark. The tension though comes from the different ways the three men want to deal with the shark.

Police Chief Brody wants to close the beach. He has young kids, it isn't safe. He is the family man who wants to protect everyone.

Mayor Vaughn wants to capitalize on the summer tourists, and refuses to close the beach. He has to keep his town alive and because it is a summer town closing the beach means no income.

Quint, the shark hunter says he will destroy the shark if they pay him… but later in the story we realize that he saw all his comrades destroyed by sharks off the coast of Japan during the war and he will stop at nothing to kill the shark, even if that means sabotaging the boat that he, Brody, Vaughn and Hooper are on just so that he can get close to the animal.

Whereas Hooper, an Oceanographer, just wants to study the shark and is skeptical about causing it harm.

Tons of inherent tension. The shark attacks and floating heads of fishermen are just bonus.
 
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