So last year I bailed in a major way on Star Wars because in the fallout from The Rise of Skywalker, interacting with the property in any way was making me miserable and it got to the point I needed to divest for my own sanity. (And this was even before the pandemic lockdowns started!) However, the final season of The Clone Wars was also finally released last year, and so I decided that on May the 4th, when the final episode was released, I'd spend the day binging the whole thing (as well as the last string of episodes of Star Wars Resistance).

And I had a really good time.

At the time it had been four months since I'd touched Star Wars at that point and I think the time away did me good. I got to close out two Star Wars properties I was already invested in and they both had the added benefit of being really good. I decided that, when new content came around again, instead of getting tangled up in the day-to-day minutia, I'd save it for May the 4th and binge it then.

So yesterday on May the 4th, I sat down to watch season 2 of The Mandalorian, which I'd heard decidedly mixed things about (and that's even before taking into consideration all of Gina Carano's bullshit). And, I, uh, couldn't get into it. Like, I was never as into season 1 of The Mandalorian as other people were but I still enjoyed it, but I couldn't bring myself to care about anything that was happening in the episode or even continue on from there. The new show that premiered yesterday, The Bad Batch, is also a continuation of The Clone Wars and a prequel to Rebels, two shows I enjoyed, but I also couldn't muster up the motivation for that either.

And now a day later on "Revenge of the Fifth" I can't say I really care anymore.

So I think I'm gonna call 2021 as the year I've successfully divested from Star Wars. It had been a steady, positive presence in my life for four years (2016 - 2019) and pretty miserable presence on-and-off for another (2020) and I think it's served its purpose. I never watched it as a child so I don't have any baggage of that nature attached to it, so I'm pretty comfortable making a clean break. Now I just have to decide how much of the limited merchandise I have I'm gonna bother to keep and what I'm gonna give away.

"Let the past die. Kill it, if you have to." - Kylo Ren

Some random updates about quarantine and media consumption:

( The obligatory cut... )

Also, as far as writing goes, I've made outlines for my nordipalooza fills and starting either tomorrow or Monday I'm gonna sit down and really jump into writing those as posting closes on May 24th. I also have some drafts I'd like to finally finish up and post, particularly those Doctor Who drabbles that I talked about last month. I also really want to finish the final chapter of my Hetalia fic Personal Chaos at some point over the next couple of months since it's ninth anniversary is July 25th and I just posted the penultimate chapter last November after a four year hiatus.

Health-wise I'm doing okay. Nothing in terms of what's going on in the wider world, but I need to think of ways to manage my eating and exercise better since over the past couple of weeks have been not great in that regard. I've been making more of an effort to cook stuff that's not frozen or prepackaged meals and only ordered take-out once (for a salad) so I feel like I'm on the right track, I just need to commit to it. For the record, a citrus glaze works really well as a marinade for pork.

Bad, depressing stuff out of the way first:

I was going to make a New Year's post but I've been to preoccupied this week with all the bad things happening in the world and Star Wars fandom basically imploding in on itself. The latter was bad enough I changed my usernames on twitter, instagram, and pillowfort in order to distance myself from the property and spent part of yesterday running blockchains. Yet another reminder how the mainstreaming of fandom brings a lot of bad with the fringe benefits. Suffice to say all the stress has zapped all my productivity and creativity for the past three weeks and I'm only just now managing to claw my way back. So watch this space because hopefully I'll be in a much better headspace and talk about and create things for stuff I'm actually enjoying.

Onto the fun stuff:

People really seem to like The Witcher! I'm only a little ways into Sword of Destiny, which is the second of the two short story collections the first season is based off of. My plan is to finish all the books and then dig into the show, but I'm getting through them at a slower pace than I would like (partly because I'm alternating with the His Dark Materials books) so if I get really impatient I may start the show after I finish this book. But considering we aren't going to get a second season for at least another year (ditto for His Dark Materials) it might be better if I just stick to my guns and be all caught up in the order I want to consume them for the next go around.

Speaking of the hot new property, I watched the first episode of the BBC/Netflix's new version of Dracula created by Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss and... I honestly have no idea how I feel about it? It was easily one of the most bizarre viewing experiences of my entire life, and there's still two more episodes for me to watch. Like, I definitely didn't hate it? But I don't know if I'd go so far as to say I like it? All I know is that the opening credits look like a pretty blatant ripoff of Hannibal's and it's honestly kind of funny.

I haven't watched the Doctor Who premiere yet because tomorrow (or I guess today since I'm writing this post at 3:30 AM) I'm going to go see the first two episodes together as a complete serial in a movie theater! I'm really excited, and I hope it's worth it since it's going to take me an hour drive to get to the AMC theater where I bought my ticket. I've already been spoiled for one major element because Doctor Who social media is relentless even with muting and blacklisting, but I don't know the context so I'm interested to see how this all unfolds.

I'm also making a concentrated effort to get back into watching anime. I restarted Golden Kamuy from the beginning because I originally took a stab at it all the way back in 2018, and I absolutely adore it. If all goes according to plan I'll be done with season 1 tomorrow night!

Basically, a lot of things in the world and in fandom suck right now (and, to be honest, 2019 was pretty terrible for fandom in general) so in 2020 I'm going to channel as much energy into creating and positive fandom experiences as I can.

So I was going to do my usual Pre- and Post-Viewing posts for The Rise of Skywalker, especially considering I'd gone through the trouble of rewatching all the movies in the days leading up to seeing it, but honestly that whole day and the whole experience was so unpleasant that I didn't really have the energy to put out any sort of well thought out reaction or analysis.

But yeah, long story short I didn't like the movie. I had heard rumblings a couple of days before after the UK premiere, so I'd mentally prepared myself by constructing the worst possible version of what could happen in my head, and the final product didn't hit my three big "I'm completely bailing on this franchise" sticking points, but I'd hardly call that a victory since aside from that the film completely destroyed many thematic elements of the last two films and breaks the lore in a way that makes me wary about consuming extended universe content at all going forward.

That's. Not. Good.

The US premiere also happened to fall on the day a bunch of other stuff in my life came to a head in an extremely not fun way, so I've basically spent the past week using Xmas as an excuse to binge eat, drink, and basically wallow while all the parts of my life aside from work slowly unraveled. It's only last night that I've really been able to pull myself out that funk and while I'm more or less back in the right headspace to actually be productive.

I have partially finished drafts of Xmas fics that I originally wanted to finish and edit last weekend, but because I basically couldn't do anything that didn't happen. I'm still really fond of them though and it is still "the season" so I'm gonna try to get at least a couple of them done and posted by the end of New Years'. Aside from needing to binge the new season of You and just general life maintenance I don't have much going on so I feel like that's doable.

Xmas itself was mostly okay. I passed out ridiculously early that night and slept so long and so soundly that I had to take off work yesterday last minute (thankfully that's like one of two days I could really get away with that). I think that in particular has gone a long way into making me feel more refreshed. I'm going to a concert on Sunday, and I don't have any immediate plans for January so I'm hoping I can use that month to kind of sort out a lot of life stuff I've been putting off for the last few months and go into the new decade on a stronger note.

Also: Doctor Who returns on January 1st! Even if it's the same level of quality as last season it'll still be a big pick-me-up that I desperately need, so I'm super excited for it. And then once the season wraps I'm diving headfirst into the Fourth Doctor era!

This week, in preparation for the premiere of The Rise of Skywalker, I'm rewatching all of the live-action Star Wars films. Some for the first time in years. As I go along I'm collecting some of my thoughts on how each film has changed in my own estimation, and how well I think they hold up overall in the story as it stands.

Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi is my favorite Star Wars movie. I'd maintained over the last couple of years that it was a solid second after The Empire Strikes Back but nope, it is hands down my favorite in the franchise. Which is why JJ Abrams may soon be my sworn enemy, but I digress. Honestly, going into this, I was struck by how much it gave off the vibe of "the last film made a ton of money so this one has an actual budget" - even though I know The Force Awakens had a similar budget. Really, I think it boils down to your skills as a producer and a filmmaker. And, judging from this and Knives Out, Rian Johnson is one hell of a filmmaker.

( That's how we're gonna win. Not fighting what we hate, saving what we love. )

This week, in preparation for the premiere of The Rise of Skywalker, I'm rewatching all of the live-action Star Wars films. Some for the first time in years. As I go along I'm collecting some of my thoughts on how each film has changed in my own estimation, and how well I think they hold up overall in the story as it stands.

Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens is a film that has been criticized for aping too many plot points from A New Hope. It's a criticism I never put all that much stock in, because aside from some broad strokes I didn't think they were that similar, and the new characters were so different from the original cast. However, upon rewatching all of the movies just prior to revisiting this, I have to say it does borrow an awful lot from not only A New Hope, but The Empire Strikes Back as well. I mean, there's a reason for it: this structure is solid and it's a logical way to revive a franchise while injecting new elements into the story as well. And while I do think those new elements were strong enough that it was a successful gambit, it does make this film seem much more unimaginative and safe compared to all the others.

( I'm being torn apart. I want to be free of this pain. And I know what I have to do, but I don't know if I have the strength to do it. Will you help me? )

This week, in preparation for the premiere of The Rise of Skywalker, I'm rewatching all of the live-action Star Wars films. Some for the first time in years. As I go along I'm collecting some of my thoughts on how each film has changed in my own estimation, and how well I think they hold up overall in the story as it stands.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi leans further into the fantasy elements of the franchise than any of the other films, an element I found slightly off-putting the first time I watched it. However, upon each viewing I gain more of an appreciation for the decision to go this route, not to mention the way it resolved its central conflict is key to shaping what Star Wars would become possibly more than anything else. It's impact is felt all the way from The Phantom Menace to The Last Jedi, where the idea of humanity and redemption for the villains is given it's due. Sorry guys, Luke Skywalker is the original woobifier of your problematic faves.

( Strike me down with all your hatred, and your journey towards the dark side will be complete! Good! Use your aggressive feelings, boy. Let the hate flow through you. )

This week, in preparation for the premiere of The Rise of Skywalker, I'm rewatching all of the live-action Star Wars films. Some for the first time in years. As I go along I'm collecting some of my thoughts on how each film has changed in my own estimation, and how well I think they hold up overall in the story as it stands.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back is a movie where I remember certain segments with crystal clarity, but completely forget about others. This isn't a lead in to how, actually, I actually hate the movie now. If anything, I appreciate how many things this movie was able to do at once, and I completely get why many (including, sometimes, me) consider this the best Star Wars film ever made. Even though apparently on release, people didn't believe that Vader was actually Luke's father and they had to have Obi-Wan confirm it again in Return of the Jedi. It's like poetry, it rhymes.

( You have controlled your fear. Now, release your anger. Only your hatred can destroy me. )

This week, in preparation for the premiere of The Rise of Skywalker, I'm rewatching all of the live-action Star Wars films. Some for the first time in years. As I go along I'm collecting some of my thoughts on how each film has changed in my own estimation, and how well I think they hold up overall in the story as it stands.

Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope is yet another example of a film that I remember fairly well, but have completely forgotten the pace of, which provided for a much richer viewing experience and a deeper appreciation for its structure and use of characters. Because the story is relatively simple, even as it's building a setting from scratch, the majority of the plot is driven by the characters. There are long stretches of Luke, Obi-Wan, Han, Leia, Tarkin, and Vader all riffing off each other in various combinations, not to mention C-3PO and R2-D2 have much more screen time in this movie past the opening act than I remembered.

( But I was going into Tosche Station to pick up some power converters! )

This week, in preparation for the premiere of The Rise of Skywalker, I'm rewatching all of the live-action Star Wars films. Some for the first time in years. As I go along I'm collecting some of my thoughts on how each film has changed in my own estimation, and how well I think they hold up overall in the story as it stands.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is a film I've watched pieces of many times, and one I've seen all the way through only a couple. I should also add a disclaimer to this because this rewatch happened on the heels of a massive cleaning spree where I moved most of the furniture around my apartment and did four loads of laundry, so I had to pause at the end of the first act to take an hour nap. This is, in an of itself, not a hugely terrible thing, as Rogue One has an extremely well-defined three act structure... and the first two acts are kind of messy. Like, it's a fun mess, but chunks of this movie are kind of a mess.

( Be careful not to choke on your aspirations. )