Author: Chris S.

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Rule of Two

Except for basketball and soccer, I root for two teams in every sport that I’m interested in.

Giants and Mets.

Sharks and Flyers.  Maybe the Maple Leafs.

49ers and Broncos.

I root for my local/home teams unless it’s the Broncos or Mets playing the 49ers or Giants.

Just ask anyone who was around for Super Bowl XXIV, when I was probably the lone person in the city of San Francisco wearing a John Elway #7 Broncos jersey, rooting against the 49ers.

Or the postseason Giants games against the Mets.

As for this season, I threw my support for the Broncos out the window when they signed Joe Flacco.  They’re still my team, but everyone knew that Flacco was not the answer.  Hopefully Drew Lock will lead us into a better future.

So I climbed back onto the 49ers bandwagon, which has been a team I’d been a fan of since freshman year in high school, when this happened:

This year’s squad is full of likable guys, like George Kittle and Jimmy Garoppolo.

And Richard Sherman, that guy you hate, unless he’s on your team.

So while I can say I’m a bandwagoner, I can sorta kinda claim the ‘Faithful Then, Faithful Now’ moniker as well.  From a certain point of view.

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Chris Explains Stuff: Be With Me

The fallen Jedi didn’t communicate with Rey at the beginning of The Rise of Skywalker because they all knew that she was a Palpatine.  They were not sure if she could be ‘trusted’.

Once they saw her save Ben and fight off the Emperor’s minions, they deemed her worthy of their help.

Thank you for attending my TED Talk.

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Chatty?

Things kinda went quiet around here between the halfway point of The Mandalorian Season 1 and the premiere of The Rise of Skywalker.

Hmph.

I thoroughly enjoyed both, but felt that The Mandalorian stuck the landing for it’s first season and was better than The Rise of Skywalker.

Heck, it was better than the Sequel AND Prequel trilogies, IMHO.

In fact, The Mandalorian ranks up in my top 5 Star Wars entities, in no particular order:

  • Star Wars
  • Rogue One
  • Rebels
  • The Mandalorian
  • West End Games’ Star Wars The Role Playing Game

The Thrawn Trilogy, Dark Empire, Kenner’s Millennium Falcon playset, my Millennium Falcon keychain and Brian Daley’s Han Solo Trilogy are the next 5 in my list of favorites.

Funny how there’s only two movies in all of Star Wars on my top favorites list.

I’ll still watch them all whenever they play on TV, though.

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Appreciation

On the night of the Rise of Skywalker premiere/Fan Event, after the credits stopped and the lights came back on, my niece Chloe suddenly exclaimed,

“OH MY GOD!  THAT WAS SOOOOOOOO GOOD!”

Which for me, capped off two weeks of rediscovery and appreciation. Continue reading “Appreciation”

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Countdown?

Yeah, I know, I didn’t do a poster or trailer countdown this time.

I simply felt that I didn’t need to.

And I’m still in semi denial that it’s over, as much as I wanted the Saga to end.

May the Force be with you.

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The Rise of Skywalker

I actually saw it Tuesday night, thanks to a friend who works at ILM.  Thanks, DC!

I got to see a crew screening, surrounded by ILM employees and their friends and family.  DC was with his kids, and we bumped into DL and his VERY pregnant wife.  They joked that there could be more excitement in the theatre, since the baby was due a few days ago.

We got free popcorn and sodas.  There was nothing being sold except alcohol, so the kids and I didn’t get any candy.  Bummer.

The theatre was sparsely filled, which was great, because I could hear EVERY. LINE. OF. DIALOGUE, unlike other openings where the crowd is rather boisterous.

These are my initial thoughts after coming home and mulling it about in my head.

I loved it.  This movie had almost everything that I love about Star Wars.

I laughed, cried, cheered, not in that order, and repeatedly.  There were a couple of ‘WTF?’ moments.

This is the first time that I left a theatre after a Star Wars movie totally happy.

My initial ranking puts it behind Rogue One and Star Wars in my personal list, which makes it my 3rd favorite.

So my revised top 10 Star Wars films list looks like this:

  1. Rogue One
  2. Star Wars
  3. The Rise of Skywalker
  4. The Last Jedi
  5. The Empire Strikes Back
  6. Solo
  7. The Force Awakens
  8. Return of the Jedi
  9. Revenge of the Sith
  10. The Phantom Menace

Admittedly, I felt that it was a bit slow at first, but things really picked up in the second half or even 2/3rds of the film.

Recommended (duh).

Go see it!

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Chapter 5

The title of the episode made my jaw drop.

As I though about it later while driving to work, I teared up, because I know Dad would have liked this series, and this episode.

Anyways, The Mandalorian Chapter 5 is everything I’ve ever wanted from a Star Wars TV show.  Familiar locales, a Mando bounty hunter, [redacted], and a plot that was familiar as well, but with a Star Wars flair to it.

Speaking of familiar locales, is it weird that I knew where he was before they confirmed it in the episode?

And as much as I love the little dude, I was glad that there was less Baby Yoda than in all 4 previous episodes.

That other character straight up looked like what I figure I would look like in that universe, right down to his profession.  And fate.

In fact, my head canon now accepts that that WAS me in this episode.  So there.

Thanks, Dave Filoni!

I love this series, probably more than anything else in Star Wars, except Star Wars.