So...

[SUCCESSOR]

Wow are you that white? I think that image will be burned into my cornea(howthefuck sp?) for the next 72 hours.

[moocow]

Nope, just messing with the saturation/levels :)

[{DSG}DarkRaven]

Wow are you that white?

Don't you know that Mooie is the most famous Geisha in Ohio?

[Mitsukara]

My opinions on what I've seen/experienced and how it goes...

Star Wars which is especially great:

• VI: Return of the Jedi (badass + classic, the ending is awesome and was genuinely unexpected and very profound and just awesome. I still want to cry when I see it XD)
• V: The Empire Strikes Back (badass + classic, there were no bad parts in the movie ANYWHERE. Everything was on and awesome developments, powerful and terrible, occurred which made it really interesting)
• IV: A New Hope (badass + classic, not a lot to be said)
• "IX": The Last Command (badass, great conclusion to a perfect continuation)
• "VII": Heir to the Empire (badass, picks up wonderfully, so well that it's easy to forget while reading that it was 10 years after ROTJ and written by a different author)
• "VIII": Dark Force Rising (badass too, but it's the middle where the least happens and it really sets up for the conclusion. The Noghri stuff was cool here, and I wouldn't have thought they could be so interesting as they really were; Talon Karrde was well fleshed out too, and this was the first time Han and Lando ever really worked together considering they didn't really in the movies at any point)
• III: Revenge of the Sith (pretty badass, it has flaws but most of them are inherited from the other two prequels. What it added to the trilogy was done very well, and it handled what it had to do admirably. Anakin seemed far more understandable here, oddly, than his whiny emo butt did in episode II; funny considering this is when he did the mass murdering. A few parts didn't sit well with me though, upon examination)
• Jedi Academy 3: Champions of the Force (pretty great, the trilogy really clicked here and felt like the next important chapter finally. The expository was done with and this book went straight for the throat of the plot, and it did well with that. This and the other two books in the trilogy seem much more impressive if I try to visualize them as actual movies, so as I've said, I think the ideas are good but the writing style took away from it.)

Star Wars which is not so great but was okay, descending best to worst:

• Episode II: Attack of the Clones (Good in parts but had some seriously emo and lame "romance", and the plot was hard to follow because of how overdone the action sequences felt)
• "V.5": Shadows of the Empire (Relatively good but ultimately not very substantial, the plot didn't really have much weight. The writing style was also pretty bad, with a "boring conversation anyway" syndrome destroying half of the would-be should-be dialogue of the book. Dash Rendar was kinda lame and has a cheesy name)
• The Courtship of Princess Leia (Great in it's own way but wacky for Star Wars land)
• Jedi Academy 1: Jedi Search (Had some virtues and carried on the story, but felt really hoary and uncreative a lot of the time. Kessel wasn't as interesting as it should've been, Jedi cantidates seemed to suddenly fall in everyone's laps, strange stuff like the umgullian blob races seemed to take the story out of focus, and Daala is a lame villain)
• Episode I: The Phantom Menace (JarJar, a little bit hoary at times, the action sequences and humor felt very poor- even the fighter pilot bit was unneccesarily cheesy. I hated the entire pod race sequence, and the announcer was a more obnoxious character than JarJar. The politics should've been interesting but didn't explain themselves well to the audience and came off as boring. The ending was cheesy and unfulfilling. The gungans are terrible, especially JarJar and Boss Nass.)
• Jedi Academy 2: Dark Apprentice (Kyp's turnabouts seem to happen for very little real reason and come off as very superficial, which is bad considering how emotional it should've been. The book can't take credit for introducing stuff as Jedi Search did. I appreciated that there was a second race introduced on the planet of the Mon Calamari and that they went there, but the planet could've used much more description than it got and came across very vaguely. Lando and Han's constant betting felt superficial and unrealistic of Han, and their relationship in general lacked a sense of realism. What was up with that whole stint of Jaina and Jacen getting lost in the underground?)

How many times can I go over the same subject? Indefinitely.

[{DSG}DarkRaven]

How many times can I go over the same subject? Indefinately.

It's spelled, "indefinitely". And I agree with most of what you said, especially about episodes 1 and 2. The action was even okay for the most part, especially in AOTC, but wooden acting destroyed PM and lame romance/emo anakin destroyed AOTC.

Did you ever read the Hand of Thrawn Duo, also by Timothy Zahn? If you loved the Thrawn Trilogy as much as you claim, you'll definitely love those two.

[Mitsukara]

I'm definitely planning to read them, but no, not yet. Everything I've read is on that list except for one and a half of the unfamous (u, not i) Lando Calrissian Trilogy: Lando Calrissian and the Mindharp of Sharu and Lando Calrissian and the Flamewind of Oseon (I've not touched Lando Calrissian and the Starcave of Thonboka yet). Those books were on some serious acid.

I'm tentatively planning to read something along the lines of:

Darksaber (maybe? do I need to read something before it? should I skip it?) > Corellian Trilogy (Ambush at Corellia, Assault at Selonia, Showdown at Centerpoint) > Hand of Thrawn duology (Specter of the Past, Vision of the Future) > Outbound Flight > Survivor's Quest

And finish the dreaded Lando books, and likely read both Han Solo trilogies (the old 70s one- Han Solo at Stars End, Han Solo and some other thing, and Han Solo and the Lost Legacy- and the one about Han's origins- The Paradise Snare, The Hutt Gambit, and Rebel Dawn) in there whenever I feel like it. And Dark Empire whenever I get my hands on a trade paperback/alternative. And I was so enamored of the Thrawn trilogy that I want to reread it- likely right before the Hand of Thrawn duology so it's fresh in my mind when they start referencing it.

[Dechipher]

Roughly fifteen minutes before starting my job at 7-Eleven two weeks ago, I accidentally shit my pants while attempting to fart and was forced to return home and clean up before showing up to work, a half hour late, which caused me to get a "Good" under 'punctuality' on my trainee report, as opposed to "Excellent".

[Darth Marsden]

And you admit to that? You got some big cajones, man.

I've started watching Smallville again from the very beginning. I'm surprised at how many of the 'freaks of the week' I recognize from other places. I'm also interested in how many times Clark reveals his abilities to said freaks, right before they get clobbered by the man himself. Hmm.

mrz84 - you were thinking about downloading it? Give it a try - you might be surprised.

[mrz84]

Jen - I've read Darksaber. It was kinda lame, but you might like more than I did. I kinda liked the Corellian Trilogy. The Hand of Thrawn duo was very sweet. I never read the Lando books and feel that they're not that important for me to understand the character. Unless there's something in them that I should know. Meh.

Darth M- Actually, I watch it every thursday. Unless I have to goto work. Sucks having a spasmatic work schedule.

[ShadowTiger]

Roughly fifteen minutes before starting my job at 7-Eleven two weeks ago, I accidentally shit my pants while attempting to fart and was forced to return home and clean up before showing up to work, a half hour late, which caused me to get a "Good" under 'punctuality' on my trainee report, as opposed to "Excellent".

You are a very, very bold sir to have shared that with us. I only hope that when I start at ACE Hardware on Monday (!!!!!!!!!) something similar doesn't happen to me.

Though it tends to. I fully expect to walk in there using my own shirt to hold in my intestines after having an accident with a forklift not two minutes before.