Tag Archives: Star Wars

Meet Utah’s Top Cosplayers-Part 2

It can look like Cosplay came out of nowhere. But science-fiction and fantasy have been popular genres for generations now-one could argue that they’ve been around as long as literature itself. Costuming has been around since the first scifi conventions in the 1930s and 40s, when people would dress up to fit into the genre they liked to consume, not necessarily to reflect certain characters. By the 1970s there were formalized costume contests and standards for costuming. The term “cosplay” itself was invented by a Japanese news reporter who visited an American convention in 1970 as a shortened form of the terms “costume play”.

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Living with Super Powers: A Survey

The cool thing about science fiction and fantasy is that it allows us to examine what makes us human. Because more often than not, the genre features a protagonist or group of protagonists with capabilities beyond those of ordinary humans. And sometimes we watch how extraordinary humans cope with still living an ordinary life, or learning to adjust to a different one.

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My 10 Favorite Movies

Recently, Tim Champlin tweeted me and asked if I could do a list of my ten favorite movies. I thought it sounded like a great idea, so I jumped at the opportunity to do it. Before I get into this list, I want to set a few ground rules. First, these are my favorite movies. I don’t know how to quantify “favorite,” but I do know that it is not the same as a list of the ten best movies. Some of these movies may not be great, but they are movies I could sit and watch again and again, for the most part. Also, you can’t argue someone’s favorite movies. You just can’t. Another rule I set for myself was limiting myself to one movie per series. Otherwise, this list would be nothing but Star Trek, Star Wars, and Lord of the Rings. That would be boring. So, in no particular order, here is my list.

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10 Things that Happened in One Year Plus with the Geeky Mormon

Summer of 2015, Jake asked for people to come co-write for The Geeky Mormon. I posted my first article in July. So it’s been more than a year—more like a year and two months. But better late to get around to an anniversary-type post than never. This isn’t really to brag on my achievements but to look back on what else I’ve been doing with my life in addition to The Geeky Mormon as well as some of the changes that have happened, some I may have mentioned in writing, others not so much.

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‘Star Wars: Bloodline’ is Amazing. That is All.

Dear Mom: If you are reading this, I want this book for Christmas, and I also think you should read this book because I think you would love it. I think the boys and Mary Lynne would love it, too.

To my general readers: I haven’t read that many Star Wars books. I never touched the former EU/Legends material. So I couldn’t tell you fairly how it compares. But this is one of the best books I have ever read, period. And I think it needs to be read. And my fellow Star Wars geeks on Far Far Away Radio agree. Bloodline by Claudia Gray is that good. My review here contains a lot of what you would consider spoilers but Bloodline is not that fun to talk about without them. I have a lot of feelings for this book.

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Have You Seen These Awesome Trailers?

It’s a wonderful time to be a geek right now. Lots of wonderful movies are coming out. In the last few weeks we’ve gotten a handful of awesome trailers from Star Wars Celebration Europe and San Diego Comic Con International. These are the ones for the things I’m most excited for.

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Maz Kanata: For All Your Awkward Space Mom Needs

Han Solo leads Rey, Finn, and BB-8 through the front doors of the castle and into the main hall. Weird music plays in the background as they wander through a maze of bizarre alien patrons eating and drinking and talking. Off to one side, a very short, female creature wearing large goggles is lifting a tray when she stops suddenly. She turns around and shouts,

“HAAAAAAN SOLO!”

Silence falls. All of the cantina patrons turn in the direction that the hostess is facing.

The old smuggler shrugs and gives an awkward smile. He had been hoping to get in and out without attracting attention. Well, Maz is that “one friend” of his.

“Hello, Maz.”

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Who is the Girl from Jakku?

Hello. Once again, I’m running behind. Life happens. But, better late than never, here are a few thoughts on Rey:

Rey claims to be a nobody. But when The Force Awakens came out, her innocence, wit, and charm stole the show, and then she came out swinging against Kylo Ren. Nearly all of the marketing attention was on Finn—let’s face it, trailers have to be misleading—and even though I had high expectations for Rey she proved to be more amazing than I could have thought.

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11 Unknowns We Have About Star Wars Episode VIII

(sorry I didn’t get around to writing last week. I have a new job and life is kind of crazy right now)

As of next Friday, we are seventeen months out from Star Wars Episode VIII. We got a set visit by Prince William and a few bizarre pictures of on-location shooting in Europe. Beyond that, we have no plot details and no title. Considering the publicity timeline for The Force Awakens, the lack of info is not surprising. But at this point in the wait, everything is fair game for speculation, including the unrealistic expectations we’ve been nursing since last December. Here are eleven in-universe questions I have about what may or may not be happening in the next installment of the saga. Some questions will be answered as time goes on, but some will have to wait until December 15, 2017 (which, oddly enough, is the day after my 2_th birthday)

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A Primer of Online Fandom Terms

My capstone paper at BYU was on online fandom and I had to explain a lot of terms in detail to a professor who wasn’t very well-versed in modern trends. Since graduating, I’ve found out there is a lot more to fandom that I wasn’t even aware of, including terminology and slang. If you use Pinterest and Tumblr or you follow fandom sites on Facebook, the following may be some ideas to be aware of when looking at fan art and reading others’ posts, as well as commonly used slang. The slang terms you can look up in the Urban Dictionary (which is a site I DO NOT recommend for children).

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