Whatever It Takes

At WonderCon in 2008, while watching Jon Favreau’s first clip for Iron Man, I NEVER dreamed that I and many of my friends and family would be so invested, emotionally and otherwise, in what has become the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

And 11 years later, the end is near.

Because if we can’t protect the Earth, you can be damned well sure we’ll avenge it.

Return of the Fanboys

I was watching the closing ceremonies of Star Wars Celebration Chicago 2019, and they showed the recap video.

Over Skype I told Nelson that I wanna go back.

He did too, and said that we should go if it came back to Anaheim or to Los Angeles.

After an interesting audience participation exercise involving a large replica of the data disc containing the Death Star plans and a large lightsaber, they revealed the next location:

Hope to see you there!

The End

I got a bit emotional when I first watched this trailer earlier today.

Because it IS the end.

Not the end of Star Wars.

It’s the end of a story that I had first been aware of when I was 10 years old, and I’ve followed for 42 years.

The end of the Saga.

The end of the Skywalker story.

The end of a huge chunk of my childhood, since Star Wars has been an integral part of my life since 1977.

At least this story has been.

I said earlier that I don’t like the title, but the more I think about it, the more I suspect that it isn’t what I think it means.

There will be plenty of fan theories, and some may even be right, but as I learned from The Last Jedi, whatever happens happens, and no amount of whining and complaining will change that.

We shall see, come December.

Hat Trick

I will never not be impressed with today’s rocket technology, having grown up in the era of the Apollo and Space Shuttle missions and their disposable hardware.

3 boosters landed today.

With One Magic Word…

Fun movie.  I liked it.

It did drag at times, but overall it was entertaining.

It was as good as Aquaman, IMHO.

Stick around for 2 credits scenes.

Recommended.  Go see it!

Ch-ch-changes

My urologist wants me to go on a low sodium diet.

Okay.  I’ll go one better and just adjust my food intake in general.

I’ve started by cutting out fast food.

I’ve gone back to portion control, but not the point-counting from Weight Watchers, or WW as they now like to be called.

I’m going back to eating salads for lunch at least 3 times a week.

Cutting out donuts.

Cutting down on rice (again).

Back to a small amount of cottage cheese for breakfast, with perhaps a waffle.  And smaller amounts of my usual cereal and milk.

Bananas are back.

I’m still eating pizza, just less of it.

Controlled snacking (i.e. none or the actual recommended serving size, like 3 Oreos or 5 tortilla chips).

We’ll see how this goes for the next few months.

Hey, most of this has worked before.

Now, Where Were We?

Recap of a week+ off from work.

3/4 – Start of a week off from work.  Not much happened on Monday.

3/5 – Testing day for… reasons.  Mostly an assessment of how I deal with computer support issues and stuff like that.  Visited a comics/toys store on Geary, which I’d never been to before.  Almost bought a really expensive Mazinger Z import from Japan, but talked myself out of it.

Continue reading “Now, Where Were We?”

Cliffhanger

Those three words flash across a TV screen:

TO BE CONTINUED

And I’m taken back to a couple of moments in my life.

Memorial Day, 1980: The Northpoint theatre in San Francisco, to see the second ever Star Wars movie, The Empire Strikes Back.

Like my Mom had said later, it was like seeing old friends again, on the big screen.  I was enjoying the movie, and then had a weird feeling: the movie had run for close to a couple of hours, and then Boba Fett flew off with Han Solo in carbonite.  I wasn’t sure they had enough time to rescue him by the end of the movie.

And then the wild ending, from the lightsaber duel, the escape from Cloud City and the jump to hyperspace.

I fully expected the next scene to by Luke, Lando, Leia and Chewie rescuing Han from Boba Fett.

Instead, Luke got a new hand, Lando and Chewie flew off in the Falcon, and then…

THE CREDITS STARTED.

What?

What’s happening?

WHAT ABOUT HAN?!?!?!

3 years later, the cliffhanger was resolved.

June 18, 1990: Star Trek: The Next Generation season finale.

“The Best of Both Worlds”, in which the Borg invade Federation space, the Enterprise intercepts, and Picard is taken and turned into Locutus of Borg.

I still remember how chilling it was when Picard first spoke as Locutus.

I am Locutus of Borg. Resistance is futile. Your life, as it has been, is over. From this time forward, you will service… us.

Then three words were spoken by Riker:

Mr. Worf, fire.

Those three words mentioned above appear on screen.

3 months later, the cliffhanger was resolved.

I’m glad this latest cliffhanger will be resolved next week.  Or so I hope.

Blender Update

  • Rice milk: okay, but probably will not make again.  Too ‘goopy’.
  • Almond milk: best of the milk attempts.
  • Oat milk: literally tasted like drinking bread.
  • Milkshakes: of the 3 I’ve made, only 1 was decent enough to be called a milkshake; the others were basically chocolate milk.
  • Smoothies: probably the best thing that I’ve made with this thing.
  • Soup: very good soup (tomato).

Still need to attempt making ice cream.