SOCL

I would have stayed out of this if not for: That's call fear-mongering, Tex. As for your question LaForge, I do not agree at all with what Tex says. This nonsense about it "not being the right time" and so forth is a load of conservative rhetoric we hear which I suspect has some rooting (but perhaps for not all conservatives) in racism or simply a fear of minorities. The fact the front-running candidates for the Democratic Party are from two minority groups (i.e. female and Black/African-American) says a great deal about the progression of politics in this country. This country has been run by White male politicians since its founding and its long since been time at least one of those adjectives changed. By the reaction I get from people in the airport where I work (ironically enough, Ronald Reagan/Washington National Airport in DC), I get the feeling most of them haven't collectively seen a brown-skinned person since their great-grandparents bought one, figuratively speaking, and in general its a matter of utter ignorance. This doesn't excuse their attitude at all, especially towards my coworkers (I am the only Latino at my job, working with one White fellow, a manager who is half Latina and half White, and the rest are Black), but it helps to understand just how far the people of this country still have to come as whole. The election of a Black man to the Presidency isn't just a boost to all minorities in general, but it also a boost to American politics, both domestically and internationally. It's difficult to convince the hillbillies and fools in Tennessee and Kentucky (like the guy who lived across the street from me in Tennessee told me to "go back to my own country" every time he saw me) that a Black man or any other minority can do anything good and productive for the country, so the blatant "show-of-force", if you will, in something like the Presidential elections should push home the point that the old ways of their grandfathers cannot continue without some inevitable change. The Civil Rights Movement wouldn't have been so publicly successful if not for the sort of wide-spread media coverage it received, as well as the media coverage the racist reactionary elements in the country received, too. This helped most people realize their own, if subtle racist feelings and fears and helped change a great portion of society in a much more progressive direction. The election of someone like Barrack Obama to the Presidency will only further this cause. Additionally, around the world, for reasons I listed above, the United States is seen as an utterly White, racist nation run by nothing by rich White men. The very prospect that a Black man could make a strong bid for the Presidency has done a great deal to calm and ease feelings around the world, so what sort of effect do you think it would have to have a Black man elected President? That alone opens doors and possibilities that another White President could not, and Hillary, despite her international acclaim, does not have this sort of effect. The world has already seen successful female chief-executives (in Britain and Germany, to name two off hand) and the recent assassination of Benazir Bhutou in Pakistan shows the power women have achieved (though they certainly have a long way to go before they are true equals to men in politics, and by this I mean before the men in charge realize women are equals). Ethnic minorities are just as far behind, if not more so. In most other countries, the prospect of an ethnic minority become chief executive is enough to get the extremely reactionary elements out in force to show their utter disdain. I'm grateful that in this country organizations like the KKK and the like are kept down and are generally seen for what they are: the lowest of the lowest scum of the Earth. Still, this hasn't stopped numerous elements of this sort of racist reactionary group start fear-mongering campaigns, stating that Barrack Obama is a Muslim for instance (which he is not, though this honestly shouldn't matter in a free country like the USA) or flashing photos of him in traditional Somali garb in order to insinuate some alien look about him. The fact these elements even consider playing off these bigot fears says a great deal about Americans in general, feelings which could help be quelled with a Black man (or any other ethnic minority) in Office. I'm sure I have more, but I'm worried I could start repeating myself.

I bought the DVD to Superbad to watch over the week, the first time I've spent money on a movie I wasn't sure was actually going to be funny. Turns out, I disagree with all the hype. Sure, it was funny, but it was a giggly sort of funny and not the sort of laugh-out-loud hilarious of 40 Year-Old Virgin. In fact, I regret spending the money on it. I think I'll try to sell it to one of my flatmates...

Which ones are you talking about? The Legacy series? Who told you that? Tofu and I seem to love them, and I have found few with too many complaints.

You're just strange. I was in Myrtle Beach this last week on holiday and enjoyed temperatures in the high-60s/70s and even 80 on the last day (Fahrenheit), and complained when I got home and it was in the 50s here in DC.

That would be pretty awesome, but maybe better a miniseries, like ten episodes per season and only two seasons. That way the story is rich without being dragged out. I would worry (A LOT!) if Lucas were the one to make it into anything.

Then how on earth did you get 11 options in there?! Indeed, Scath, indeed.

I still think of the members in sort of "generations" or "classes", basically moments where there were large influxes of people coming in (and these are only names I could think of off the top of my head): First Generation: -Jahled -Trejiuvanat -Igor -Untimely Demise Second Generation: -Scathane -me -wormie -dude21 Third Generation: -Admiral Antililles -GAT -Def -Krytos -Mad Fourth Generation: -Tofu -Mitth -Rob

It finally teased us with weather in the 60s-Fahrenheit, but dropped again. It'll be back soon...it better!

Come again. Ask Evaders.

Surely you mean around his ankle... No, no, I really did mean neck. It drags one down much more than the traditional model.

There are planning sessions held with members of the LucasFilm literature staff, who consult EU sources and the the like and then consult authors about their ideas of having a story in a certain time period. It's explained pretty well on the Star Wars websites and in the back of some of the novels, one can find interviews with the authors where they explain a lot of the details. I'm not sure exactly who comes up with the plots. I know back when Timothy Zahn was tapped to write the Thrawn trilogy, he outlined the idea and basically did whatever he wanted until he ran into a "wall" where LucasFilm didn't want him to delve. It works differently now, though, with the enlargement of the general EU, so that much of it is preplanned and requires a lot more consultation, now that there's so much history to work around/within. :lol:

That is the perfect description! :lol: I suppose blaming Traviss is a little of a low (and bias) shot at that particular author for what she has done to Mandalorians and Star Wars as a whole. Regardless, I didn't notice retcons being quite so forceful and prevalent until Traviss came on the scene and very clearly declared she loves retcons--and why wouldn't she? She doesn't read (she said so herself!), much less reads any of the Star Wars literature. Her ties to the community come from what can only be a career-making contract with LucasFilm, started by the novel Hard Contact, and her close ties to the 501st. She has no emotional connection to the old-school Star Wars the way we do and no consideration of that connection. In all her interviews she comes across quite arrogantly, as though she knows what is best for Star Wars as a whole, and makes it clear that she will do precisely what she feels is best. Dragging down the entire Legacy of the Force series is only one such example of this, but her decision to dominate anything that has to do with Clones or Mandalorians is probably the worst thing anyong at LucasFilm could have allowed: it's now not a matter of what the literature says as it is what Big Brother Traviss believes it should say, retconning out the parts she doesn't like and adding in the nonsense she develops in that head of hers. These aren't tendencies I saw in any of the previous authors, to include the otherwise lacking prequel authors. Most of them were genuinely interested in making a meaningful contribution to Star Wars, even if, as you rightly pointed out, Elvis, the stories were forced into a Lucas-idea cookie-mold. The very fact you have authors like Matthew Stover (author of the upcoming Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor) believe the novels need to return to an older style of EU writing is quite telling of the state of affairs within the community itself. This isn't to say I would like a return to the nonsense of Stackpole's Bacta War or The New Rebellion or the Force Heretic trilogy of the New Jedi Order, but it shows a nostalgic sense that the post-ROTJ EU has slipped from the ideas of old-school Star Wars, once a haven for them, and fallen into the trap and pattern of the prequels. I think in many ways the last bastion of old-school Star Wars (if the post-ROTJ is not saved, and it appears it shan't be) now lies in the Knights of the Old Republic era of storytelling. We can only hope they approach that particular topic, if LucasFilm does so in novel form, with care and not quite so haphazardly as they botched the prequels and latter EU.

GAT meet a lovely lady? Maybe a Trandoshan or something along those lines. Just kidding. Yeah, Mitth is actually the one with the ball-and-chain around his neck. I'll drop him a line on Facebook and see if he doesn't get over here and say a word or two.

I concur! But Lucas isn't the only one guilty: near everyone on the LucasFilm staff is guilty of it, and it wasn't until the arrival of Karen Traviss that the authors managed to stay out of that nonsense.

Only seventeen, eh? Plan to get older eventually?

I don't think this has happened in quite some time, here at least. Sifo-Dyas sounds like a cover for Sidious, i.e. Darth Sidious or Palpatine. I hate how LucasFilm finds a way to kill the buzz of mystery.

Has it come out yet? I'm a little weary of seeing it... Just concerned it'll be the prequels all over again.

It's alright, Elvis. It was honestly meant with friendly affection. Revelation is sitting on my desk untouched, staring at me with those beady yellow eyes. Too much damn stuff to do outside of "fun".

And there he is again.

WHAT?! Chewie is dead?!?!?! You made me cry Tofu. I hope you're happy. I might scold Tofu for the spoiler...but really, Rob? Really? How could you not know?

Heh, well technically I got it yesterday. Just for the record, I quite literally ran out of my room and down to the bookstore to buy a copy the moment I typed that.

Wait, Revelation came out today?! runs out the door to the bookstore

Happy Birthday, indeed, Tofu! Be assured that I, too, will be having a beer (or twelve) in your honor! Congratulations! Now you can vote!

Won't Jackson still be producing and writing the movie? EDIT: Scathane, perhaps your powers of BEAK are weak. Be sure to read the last few paragraphs.

I agree, Alema was indeed a festering thorn in the series' side, but a festering, walking wound it was. The Mandalorian side-story is utterly irrelevant (relative to any other subplots in the series) and is, in my opinion, not only completely out of place, but, and because of that, is a dead weight dragging down not only Traviss's novels, but the series as a whole. I have said it once or a thousand times, and I will say it again, it was better suited and could have been better treated in standalone series outside this one. Further, I feel that Traviss's obsession is not only dragging this series, but has made the Republic Commando series a boring exercise in mental masturbation for her--that is to say, it is nothing but Mandalorians and how clones are Mandalorians. There is no coherent plot at work. She is a journalist, and as such is accustomed to real life where the beginning and ending of a tale cannot be seen until the onset of hindsight. This has not helped her in writing, but makes her writing seem like your reading through a series of connected events with no apparent beginning or foreseeable end. For a novel, this is bad...very bad. Honestly, I went from adoring Traviss and her abilities to utterly abhorring them, and I can only hope that Revelation will be her last major foray into the world of Star Wars for fear she will ruin some other culture or race with her artificial, outsider, revisionist POV.