Mandalorian Musings Among Recent Star Wars Offerings

Mandalorian Musings Among Recent Star Wars Offerings 

Spoilers for All Things Star Wars 

Spoiler Alert 

Here Thar Be Spoilers! 

 

Ah, The Mandalorian! 

A breath of much-needed fresh air in the Star Wars franchise. 

Yes, I’m super late to the party.  

I was saving myself for this show for a year, using it as a carrot to get my own writing projects finished, but I finally realized in this never-ending pandemic that my drive to write isn’t great but my drive to watch and absorb and learn is huge.  

One of my sons ordered Disney Plus and now I have it, so no more excuses. 

My Star Wars Background 

First of all, some background about me and Star Wars for those who might not know. 

I saw Star Wars which became A New Hope on opening day in 1977. I loved it, it changed my life, and I saw it 28 times that year.  

I was a bit disappointed in the prequels because there was no Luke, (who was my big crush though I knew there was no Luke going in), and as I said to the kids at the time when we left the theatre, “There’s too much war in Star Wars!” 

I greatly wished for an Adventures of Luke Skywalker TV series starring Mark Hamill for years and years but it never materialized. 

Star Wars has always been in my life since I was a teen, whether percolating in the background or out front and personal. May the Force Be with You! 

The Mandalorian 

Which brings me to The Mandalorian.

 

Our buddy, Mando!

Last weekend, I sat down and watched it all, almost all in one sitting, well at least up to Season Two Episode Five. 

Last night, I watched the latest episode.  

After I watched the first couple of episodes of The Mandalorian, I felt like I had chugged a pint of cold beer on a hot summer day. Ah, sweet relief. Such wonderfulness after so much trauma and disappointment. 

My Headspace 

Usually, I watch a Star Wars offering a few times before I say anything, but I’ve only seen each episode of The Mandalorian once so this will be a very general observation post.  

Like all Star Wars offerings, I didn’t watch anything about it or read about it or even know who is acting in it before I watched it.  

Obviously, I knew there was a “baby Yoda” since there is no escape from the memes and toys. I knew from the very first time I learned about him that he wasn’t “baby Yoda” but a character in the same species. 

I didn’t know what the time period of The Mandalorian was but doubted that there would be Yoda in it. We saw in the prequels that there are lots of Yoda-creatures in the Star Wars universe. 

I saw a few but tried not to look at images from the show. I had a sense it was like Lone Wolf and Cub but Star Wars-style. 

That Old Star Wars Magic 

Watching The Mandalorian, I remembered what drew me back to the theatre 28 times that first year. Not that The Mandalorian is THAT good or anything but just the fun of the Star Wars world.  

What I love about this show is that the writing and the visuals capture the “feel” of a Star Wars story. Somewhat gritty, though sometimes glamourous with marvelous little touches if you look. This story is in a gritty land like SOLO was (I really liked SOLO, strike me down with a Laser sword if you must!) 

It feels like home, the set pieces, the costumes, and so on.  

I wasn’t sure what timeline the show took place in for the first few episodes. They might have said but I could have missed it. They talk about things like the second Death Star and then come right out and tell us near the end of the first season. Eventually, I determined it was five years after Return of the Jedi.  

I have a theory that they are taking Grogu to train with Luke at the Jedi School. Then Kylo Ren, well, Palpatine, or the Knights of Ren or maybe they really will make a young Kylo Ren destroy the school and then, what about Grogu? Will he survive? It’s already pointed out by fans that Grogu was likely the only Jedi to escape when Anakin destroyed the Jedi school. Although he would have been a very tiny baby as he would have only been a couple of years old if he’s fifty in The Mandalorian. So, someone might have saved him.  

I have a hope that they will use Mark Hamill as Luke, he deserves to play him after all these years, and either age him down or not. After all, Obi-Wan aged about forty years in a few between Episodes Three and Four! How did he go from Ewan McGregor to Sir Alec Guinness in about fifteen years? I always laugh about that one! So, no reason Luke can’t go from twenty-five-year-old Mark Hamill to sixty-five! Being a Jedi ages you! 

They aged down Hamill in The Last Jedi so the precedent has been set.

Star Wars is Fun Again 

I love how they always point out, either visually or actually have jokes about how the Storm Troopers can’t hit their targets. There are some really funny bits.  

They have our buddy “the toaster” running around. 

Grogu acts like a little kid and does kid stuff which is great. It’s not too cloying or cute. He’s very smart in some ways and just a little kid in others. I guess some people got mad when he ate a frog or the frog eggs. He’s a carnivore, that’s what he does! I like how he’s mesmerized by the ball handle on the ship, it’s like a miniature Death Star. We learn it’s connected to the Jedi Temple. We’re not sure if Grogu is light or dark side, if he’s really a Jedi or a Sith or something else.  

The Empire is after Grogu so we’ll see what they want him for and if they’ll succeed. 

Grogu is slowly growing and aging before our eyes but it isn’t pointed out, it is just happening like real life.  

There are some great characters that The Mandalorian meets along the way. Each episode is like a weekly adventure story as they used to do shows in the seventies. All of the acting is great.  

I saw some people complaining about Asohka but I haven’t dug deep enough to understand their issues. 

I haven’t really watched the animated shows but I know she’s in some so I guess there are some variances that fans don’t like? I thought she was great.  

The Man in the Mask 

The Mandalorian himself is like a cowboy from an old western or something. Somehow, we can tell what he’s thinking by the tilt of his head, the photography, shadows, lighting, music without him saying a word. “A strong silent type.” And like before we saw Kylo Ren, we wondered what he looks like.  

I must say, before I saw Kylo Ren I thought he was either a robot or a horribly disfigured insect creature and was shocked when he was neither. So, I had the same thoughts about The Mandalorian as I never googled the actor until after I watched the show. What does he look like? The mystique of the mask is powerful. 

As an aside, that’s one thing I’m finding in this pandemic. I find a lot of people very attractive with the mask and then am disappointed or perhaps just not as enamored when they lower it! Lol. Something about a mask...I guess that’s why I’m not an anti-masker! Ha! 

Anyway, we do get a peek at Mando near the end of Season One and can see he’s a good-looking man who seems kind and though some of the mystique is gone, we still root for him. 

A Comfortable Show 

After the first couple of episodes, I settled in and actually relaxed watching this show. I don’t expect it to kick me in the head or disappoint me or taunt me with enticing plot points that go nowhere. The Mandalorian is so far delivering everything we need in a weekly television series based on the Star Wars world. 

The show employs a lot of familiar lines, but they don’t fall flat or feel forced or clunky. 

The use of humour in this show is perfect from the joke itself to the timing and execution.  

Lots of callbacks and Easter eggs for Star Wars fans. I’m sure I don’t know half of them myself. The sound design is fabulous. Lots of little details.

This show has a lot of heart. We connect with characters, their motives are clear, like in the original Star Wars. We don’t have to worry about subverted expectations which are different from plot twists. 

There are several directors yet the episodes all feel coherent, as any good series.  

As of this writing, Bobba Fett has arrived and there are two episodes left! 

 

 

 

 

Black Friday Sales for Online Courses!

As winter approaches, you'll find yourself indoors more once again. Or maybe you're still indoors from March. 

At any rate, you've likely watched everything on Netflix, could call yourself a bakery with all the goodies you've created, and are bored with most everything else. 

This is the perfect time to learn a new skill or brush up on an old one. Or just see how other teachers present a subject.

And even if you don't know what you want to take, you can gift courses to your friends and family. All courses on Udemy are online and learn at your own pace. Plus, you have lifetime access and are notified when/if courses are upgraded. 

Right now, Udemy is having a site-wide sale on all of their courses for Black Friday. There are thousands to choose from and the price is right. 

Udemy also offers refunds. 

Here are the links to the courses that I teach at Udemy. But hurry, the sale ends on November 27, 2020, as far as I understand it!

Happy Learning!

Life Magic for All Aspects of Life 

Learn the Secrets of a Background Performer in TV and Movies

Learn to Read Tarot Cards

So You Want to Be a Horror Writer?

Write a Short Story Using Tarot Cards

If you want to take college courses, check out George Brown College in Toronto. I teach two online courses. 

Online Self-Publishing Course at George Brown College (begins February 9, 2021)

Online How to Write a Novel Course at George Brown College (begins January 19. 2021)

Horoscopes for November 2020

It's Alive! Flesh Failure Lives!

 

Flesh Failure is another study in my exploration of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein: The Modern Prometheus.

Flesh Failure is set in 1888 London, the year of the Ripper, along with many other interesting historical pinnings that shape events in this story. 

Our heroine claws her way through a maze of lies, attempting to discover who she really is. 

She doesn't have much time, as someone such as herself isn't built for this world. 

Flesh Failure was originally published by Samhain Horror Publishing as an eBook and was packaged with Captured Souls as a duo in a print version called Experiments in Terror. 

Both Flesh Failure and Captured Souls are currently published by Scarlett Publishing. And both riff on Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. 

Flesh Failure is available right now in eBook on Amazon. It will be out in print soon. It will likely be available with other distributors in a week or two. 

Take a Self-Publishing Course at George Brown College Beginning November 2, 2020!

My next course for Self-Publishing begins on November 2, 2020. 

This online course from George Brown College in Toronto will take you through the steps to publish your own book! 

There's still time to sign up, just click this link!

Hope to see you there!

Happy Halloween!

Horoscopes for October 2020

 

Living in a Covid World

Living in a Covid World

Well, back on March 15, 2020, I retreated to Isolation Station, which is, of course, my little studio apartment in Toronto.

I’ve been doing quite well in these pandemic times.

In The Beginning

The first few weeks, I was panicked, and glued to the TV watching live updates from Trudeau, Ford, Tory, health officials, and sometimes even Trump.

As time has moved along, I have a better understanding of how the virus works, or perhaps how I’ve decided it works, and therefore, am not afraid anymore.

Afterall, FEAR is False Evidence Appearing Real.

Once you have facts, you don’t have to fear.

I’ve adjusted my lifestyle, admittedly not by much.

I’m home way more than I used to be.

The first few weeks I didn't even leave my apartment. Nope, not at all and I live in a small one-room studio. 

I bought a bike so that I can get out and about not worry about walking into people who don't care. 

Friends

I’m alone about as much as I’ve been normally over the past three years. I live alone, my kids are gone, I’m single, no admirers or potential lovers, and so, things haven’t really changed in Isolation Station.

I got used to loneliness after my second marriage blew up. People don’t really come around when you get a divorce and when you’re home licking your wounds, it’s hard to get out there.

Certainly over the past few years, I’ve really come to see who my friends REALLY are. I’ve learned who has kept me in the dark and who brought me into the light. I’ve learned that I am my own friend. I’ve learned that some people who I thought were friends, actually weren’t, and other people are more friends than I ever dreamed. Some people have remained constant, good loyal friends to me, and me to them.

I’ve come to learn that I have a bad habit of dealing with people who are not good for me, who think I’m stupid, who think I’m disposable, who only talk to me if I can do something for them and believe me, if I ever get power back, I’m remembering all of you.

I have not been as outreaching to others as I should have been over the years. I know that but …and I hate buts…but, I have been mentally fucked up and trying to sort shit out.

And I have a lot of family stuff on my plate that I don’t speak about publicly that can get me sad and not in the space to rally around others who might need cheering up.

Over the past few years, a lot of my friends have died. And that’s sad and sobering.

And makes me want to be a better person during the time I have left.

The Virus

I wear a mask when I go out, even to throw out the garbage two doors down. I wear it to protect you. Maybe it protects me. Maybe it’s a placebo. I just know that it’s no big deal to slap a mask on to go shopping. I wear/wore an N95 at one of my jobs for the past seven years and have worn an N95 to do housework, stage managing and walking around in allergy season, so I truly don’t give a fuck about all the crybabies who don’t want to wear a mask. If you want to walk around showing you’re a heartless bastard who doesn’t give a shit about others, you do you.

I wear nitrile gloves to the grocery store.

Otherwise, I don’t wear gloves but carry sanitizer.

I don’t wear a mask on my bike or walking around alone with no stores to go to.

I agree that things should open slowly so we can keep track of outbreaks and such.

I have no idea what to think about letting the kids go back to school. They need socializing, they need teachers in-person, they need to play and have fun. I don’t know what’s best. Let’s keep on social distancing and hopefully starve the virus away so that the kids can go to school.

I’ve not seen my parents since February and really want to see them, but I don’t want to kill them dragging Toronto germs to London. I will try to see them soon, as the numbers keep going down.

I have driven in the car with one of my sons three times now.

That same son bought groceries for me for the first couple of months of lockdown to protect me. Now we’ve been going together. He doesn’t live with me.

I don’t go out shopping much but the past three or four weeks, I’ve gone shopping about twice a week.

I’m still staying in my apartment as much as possible.

And now there’s a heatwave too! I think we’re on Day Nine of over 30C, more like 35.

I'm ready for in-person tarot card readings!

Jobs

I have no real jobs anymore and not sure if they will come back.

No background acting for film and television.

No dogwalking/catsitting.  (I did two shifts of catsitting on the holiday weekend but that’s not going to pay the rent! Lol)

No patient acting or other work at Humber College.

No tarot readings or parties.

BUT

I have my new online teaching at George Brown gig. One class ran so far and it’s over this week. 

Two courses will be available in the fall and hopefully, people will take them. (Self-Publishing and How to Write a Novel)

I have my online Udemy courses that run all the time but I only make a buck or two per course and my artsy courses aren’t very popular as most courses on there are about technical stuff and how to make webpages.

I have been able to take CERB but not much longer. I don’t know what I’ll do if the other jobs don’t come back.

I’m still freelance editing so that’s always ongoing although these days, everyone is an editor, so I get much less work than the glory days. I refuse to lower my rates as I’ve been doing this for over fifteen years professionally. The rate I charge is still very low, pretty much the same rate for the past ten years, and for some books, not even minimum wage.

I’m still doing tarot readings online if anyone wants any. I’ve not been advertising as it feels ghoulish in a pandemic.

And of course, I’m a writer.

Now What?

Over the past couple of weeks, as I’ve finished up freelance projects and now that I have clarity about the virus, I’ve been working on my books, stories, and have even gone back to screenwriting.

CERB has allowed me not to panic but to focus on my art and get work done that might make me money in the future.

It’s only been a couple of weeks that my head is clear enough to write fiction and I am!

But CERB will be done for me, sooner than later. It’s a tricky system. CERB is to help those who lost their jobs but if you make more than $1000 a month, you can’t get it. However, CERB is $2000 a month. So, if I take a book editing job, I will lose CERB but I won’t be making any two grand. It’s a stupid system and why so many turn down work. You should be able to earn up to two grand not one grand. That's a whole grand difference and why so many game the system. I have not turned down ANY work, just for the record. 

I still have my Patreon. I make posts like this one several times a week. Patrons get first look at some stories. They get pictures. They get thanked in published books. On the tarot reading levels, you get tarot readings. You can even ask me to dress up like one of my characters from my books for your tarot reading. I’ve been doing that for months for a couple of patrons. You can join for as little as $1.

Coming Soon

You can pre-order Phobias 2 where I have a story in the same anthology as Stephen King, my idol! I’m so happy! So pre-order that book and be the first to read it.

Conclusion

When this virus started, I had hope for humanity pulling together, helping each other, that THIS would be the thing that people would put their differences aside to beat. After all, we aren't going to war with guns in fields and ill-fitting shoes. We don't have to shoot anyone or be shot at. No, we are paid to stay home and watch Netflix and when we go out, it's simply requested to mask up your moistly speaking hole so that you're not a spreader. 

So easy and yet, instead of society pulling together, it's never been so pulled apart. It's bad in Canada but a million times worse in the States where they think the virus has political leanings. 

I'm still in Isolation Station. I talk on the phone for hours to many friends and message with others. I'm pretty happy and pretty content. And, sometimes I feel guilty, but I know I'm lucky. I have safe, good place to live. I live alone. I don't have to deal with a spouse or kids in this pandemic. I don't have to try to work and homeschool at the same time. I don't have to worry about getting evicted. I just have to worry about staying focussed long enough to do the jobs that I get and write books and screenplays to sell in the future. 

I am super hopeful about the future and am even thinking about going to Stokercon in Denver. 

Over the past couple of months, because I didn't have to worry about paying the rent in my freelance world, I've been able to use the time to think positive thoughts, retrain my brain, learn new skills, reading books I've been meaning to read and binge-watching shows I've been meaning to binge-watch. I've written a book and a screenplay, working on more stories that are due next week, more screenplays, more books...I'm one of the few who is actually thriving and NOT depressed in this pandemic. I'm quite happy and content, to be honest. 

Maybe I don't feel like I'm missing out on stuff as I was feeling for a few years there, as there's nothing to miss right now!

I also know this pandemic is not forever and will be over sooner than later if people keep being vigilant about social distancing and wearing masks.

I've only seen one of my sons a few brief times for shopping/errands. I want to visit my parents and my friend whose husband recently died and other friends who are good, loyal friends. But baby steps. The numbers are low and super encouraging. If everyone can just stay on target for another few weeks, we can beat the virus and get a new reality going, earn an income, see our friends, ride roller coasters without screaming in our hearts, and dance! 

 

Masks are a great tool for self-expression! Have fun with them while we have to wear them!