And yet none none dare utter the name of the most dreaded Sith Lord of all, the odiferous Darth Continent.

<damning with faint praise>Well, at least it is more seasonally appropriate than the Haunted Forest look.</damning with faint praise>

The time will come where this simple scene will be bloated into a massive production, a la Busby Berkeley, with Greedo — and his troop of Rodian backup dancers —performing the Tatooine Tap on a massive stage, while singing that jazzy ditty, “Over His Dead Body”, and at the climax of this glamorous musical number... Ha…

It’s rather... over-designed, which is perfectly in tune with so much of current Trek’s aesthetic — and that is not exactly a compliment. I do get something of a Captain Marvel vibe from this unique take on Starfleet fashion, however.

What I find strange about the attempts to do CG gelfling faces is that the proportions are just wrong (and painfully evident in the Kira face replacement comparison): too prominent, pointed chin, oddly contoured cheeks, and eyes that do not seem shaped or positioned properly.

Well, at least Mr.Fassbender was technically wearing a helmet. ;)

Ah, Duolingo...

In the original novelization of the film, although the broad historical outlines are the same, one finds conspicuous differences.

I was always a bit annoyed that they don’t feature more prominently throughout, and I never got to see a swarm of the little guys taking down a Hell Knight or two — at least until I cobbled together a basic custom map and staged it up myself. They are truly devastating in numbers.

“Starhopper” ;D

I suspect the matter of auditioning so many alternatives to Henry Cavill really came down to “we probably should at least try to find someone cheaper”.

There is a joke about Stanley Kubrick’s alleged involvement (and It been going around so long, I have no idea where I head it first):

I look forward to the day when, during the preparation of a nostalgic retrospective on the series, someone is too lazy to pull the opening titles from video archives, unknowingly grabs this version from the internet, and sees it broadcast across an unsuspecting world as canon... ;D

To borrow a phrase: “If you don’t know that they are for, then they probably are not for you” — sort of the rule in regard to tech aimed specifically toward developers and high-end applications, especially in relation to common consumer concepts of “economy” and “practicality”.

The real reason, as we all know (and as so many have pointed out in droll fashion), here expressed by beloved troubadours, Monty Python.

Gandalf, or “Olórin” as he was originally named, is a Maia, a being that had existed since before the dawn of time, servant of the divine Valar, and essentially a minor divinity, himself.

After watching the teaser, I remain firm in my impresssion that this film will either be absolutely brilliant or absolutely wretched, with little chance of there being the slightest middle ground.

Scary stuff, but the AHA cautions that the study only points to observational connections between diet drinks and these outcomes, not a causal relationship.

Mere moments later...

My take-away from this: