text:
Guest reviews
Overall rating
based on 5 reviews
Recent reviews
- All reviews
- Positive
- Neutral
- Negative
Find reviews that mention:
Just 3.9 mi (6.3 km) from the airport, Rosebud Hotel & Resort features a rooftop terrace and puts you 3.1 mi (4.9 km) from Pashupatinath Temple and 4.3 mi (6.9 km) from Boudhanath. Guests will have free perks like WiFi, valet parking, and self parking. Other highlights include a garden, and rooms offer flat-screen TVs and room service.


text:
News By Tag
Industry News
* Web hosting
* More Industries...
News By Location
Industry News
AvailHosting Wins Award for 'Best Budget Hosting Provider'
Today AvailHosting.com was announced a recipient of the 'Best Budget Hosting Provider' award by HostReview.com.
"We're elated to have been recognized by HostReview.com,"
In celebration, AvailHosting has renewed release special on their VPS hosting plans. The promotion code 'HALFOFF' will garner new customers a 50% reduction on their first month bill.
About AvailHosting:
AvailHosting provides low cost, affordable VPS hosting and reseller hosting solutions built for the scalable needs of web hosts, web designers and web developers. Dedicated to quality service and fanatical technical support, AvailHosting continually strives to improve the hosting experience of their clients.
Mike Anderson
AvailHosting – The Hosting Specialists.
Account Email Address Disclaimer Report Abuse

subset: commoncrawl


text:
AN: This is basically a continuation of A Trip to the Highlands, only this one really IS just the one story and I refuse to let it get out of control. I don't own these characters. Oh, and, as a disclaimer, I'm really sorry if some things just seem unrealistic. I had trouble finding much on life in 18th century Scotland, so I took some liberties.
The first year Victoria spent in Scotland was the hardest of her entire life. Each day alone was more difficult than the dealing with her father's death and living with the Harris family put together. She knew good things would come; the Doctor had assured her of that. But, for goodness' sake, how long was she going to have to wait?
Upon arriving, she had immediately encountered trouble. The Doctor had left her behind so quickly, so far outside of the village! She barely had a chance to think. That was one thing she had always found difficult when she traveled with him. Everything went by so fast, and she required time to think. Imagine that, all of time and space in a little blue box and she felt that she didn't have enough of it!
She shook her head and smiled at the thought before continuing on towards the village. This dress was so uncomfortable. It had been so long since she had worn anything like it. To think that she had been raised in dresses far more extravagant than these, and now she could barely walk in anything that wasn't more modern. Still she carried on, finally reaching the small town.
At least it didn't take her too long to find Jamie. She wandered into the village, the look of despair on her face which was only partially feigned, and it was mere minutes before that boy she had remembered so fondly approached her with concern.
"Excuse me, lassie!" Jamie ran straight towards her. He surveyed her, fixating on her face. Victoria kept hoping he'd recognize her, and it nearly broke her heart when he gave up trying to place her. "You look new here. Are you lost?"
Victoria tried to hold in tears until she realized how well they could help her case. "I'm so sorry. I was travelling with a group of… of…" She hadn't thought of how she would explain. "I was with my family. We're… we're travelling merchants. Yes, that's it. But then I went to… er, to gather some wild fruits because we prefer not to eat our merchandise if we can sell it instead. And then I came back and they had just vanished!" She hoped that he wouldn't notice how she had made it all up on the spot. She knew it didn't make much sense, but if this was the same Jamie McCrimmon she remembered, she knew he wouldn't think on it too much.
"Och! That's terrible!" He looked at her with genuine sympathy. Her story had worked. "D'you have anywhere to stay?"
"No, I was just passing through." She wished that she could stay with him, but that would be improper. She would have to stay with another woman, or perhaps a family.
"I'll find a place for you, then. What did you say your name was again?"
"I didn't. It's Victoria." She half-smiled through the tears, trying to remember the surname the Doctor had suggested. "Victoria…. Heriot."
Jamie looked as if he almost placed the name, then shook his head. "What a lovely name. Well, Victoria Heriot, I promise you, I will find a place for you to stay."
He kept his promise, and that evening she was staying with a very kind, widowed old seamstress named Mrs. Campbell who lived in a small cottage on the edge of town. She was a lovely woman, for which Victoria was truly grateful. Victoria would run her errands, going to market for food and bread, selling her wares to other villagers. While she was fond of the old woman, though, Victoria mainly used her errands as an excuse to find Jamie and talk to him. It was encouraging, even if he did not recognize her, that his face lit up as she would approach.
Victoria had trouble deciphering at first if he had any intention of courting her or not. In some ways, things had been simpler in the TARDIS, traveling with Jamie and the Doctor. They didn't have time to worry about things. There were people to see, planets to save! And yet, in that life, there was no chance of her ever getting to tell Jamie about her feelings. It was simple, yes, but it was disheartening at the same time. It hadn't taken her long to fall in love, and she had always hoped that he had felt the same way. But now, here she was, already knowing everything about him, but he had to get to know her all over again.
The months seemed to drag by at first. She sometimes wished that the Doctor would just show up and tell Jamie everything. And, sometimes, she almost believed he didn't have to.
"Miss Victoria," Jamie said on one such occasion, "if you don't mind my saying so, I feel like I've known you for such a long time. You'll think I'm crazy, I'm sure. But, when I first saw you, I almost felt like I recognized you from somewhere."
Victoria smiled. "Oh, of course it doesn't sound crazy. I felt quite the same about you." It took all of her willpower to keep from telling him that it was because he did recognize her from somewhere.
"Ah. Good. Well, that's certainly reassuring." He looked rather reflective, Victoria thought. Maybe he knew who she was after all. "You know, for a minute, I thought I might actually know you. But that was ridiculous. Besides, something about your name just sounded wrong. I don't know what it is about it." Victoria looked absolutely crestfallen, causing him to backpedal. "I mean, it's a beautiful name, don't get me wrong, it just wasn't what I expected to hear."
And so the weeks trudged by with similar conversations until, one day, old Mrs. Campbell fell ill. She had no children, unfortunately, nor any other surviving kin, and her husband had passed just a year before. To the surprise of the entire town, she insisted on Victoria inheriting everything, should she not make it through. She didn't have much to offer, but Victoria had made her last seven months so easy, so enjoyable. She could think of no better way to thank her.
Victoria hardly knew how to react. When the other villagers would come to call on the widow in her last days of life, Victoria could feel their strange glances burning straight through her. Although they were so kind to her before, she felt like she didn't belong among them.
A few days before Mrs. Campbell died, Jamie came to call on her. He stayed talking to her for quite a while, and, after he exited her quarters, he took Victoria aside. "Miss Heriot, I'm so terribly sorry to hear about all of this."
"Thank you for your sympathy."
"I really hope she pulls through, you know. It would be a shame, a girl like you, living all by yourself."
"I know. I absolutely dread it. It's awful, the way she's going."
"Aye, so it is." Jamie looked at his feet for a moment as if to compose himself. "You know, maybe you shouldn't be living on your own."
"Well, I don't know what else I would do." That wasn't true. She knew exactly what she would like to do, although she daren't say it aloud.
"When I was just in there, talking to Mrs. Campbell, I had to ask her a question, and she said yes. You know, she thinks of you as a daughter, and I know I didn't have to ask her, but I did anyway. I thought she'd like that."
"Jamie? What are you getting at?" She hoped she knew exactly what he was getting at.
"What I'm trying to say, Miss Heriot…" He trailed off, cleared his throat, and looked straight at her. "Miss Victoria Heriot, would you marry me?"
It took every ounce of her will to keep her from flinging her arms around him on the spot. "Oh, Jamie, of course I'll marry you!" Her willpower quickly lost the battle, and she enthusiastically ran up for his embrace.
The two married quickly; the next day, in fact. Mrs. Campbell wasn't sure she would survive much longer, and she very much wanted to see the two wed. The moment Jamie had asked for her consent, she agreed. Legally, of course, no one could consent for the girl, but Mrs. Campbell was glad he asked just the same.
It was a beautiful ceremony. Small, unplanned, and simple. Both of Jamie's parents had long since passed, unfortunately, so neither could attend. The only people to witness it were Mrs. Campbell and a few of Jamie's cousins, to whom he offered his house as he would be living with Victoria from now on. There wasn't a fuss. Victoria wore the same tartan she had come to town in, as it was the only one she actually had in her possession and it seemed fitting for a marriage to someone so quintessentially Scottish.
The day after the wedding, Mrs. Campbell died. It was tragic, though hardly unexpected. Her burial, like the wedding only the day before, was simple and beautiful in its own way. Victoria's sadness was tinted from remaining joy from yesterday. How odd; she waited eight months for anything to happen at all and suddenly it all seemed to be happening at once. She half expected the Doctor to pop up in his fantastic blue box while it was all happening.
Still the months passed on. Victoria loved every moment she spent with Jamie, but still she wished –no, she knew –things would be different for the better once he truly knew who she was. She knew that he remembered her somewhere deep within his heart, and that memory had to be pleasant or else he wouldn't have married her, hadn't it?
In the meantime, though, she tried to savor the moments. She had never truly experienced romance before, but she imagined it was something like this. Jamie was kind and gentle. The same protective nature she had seen in the TARDIS so long ago would show itself if Victoria would show any reason to be upset.
Finally, after four months of being married, it happened. Jamie had gone to the market while Victoria tended to the vegetable garden. He had not been out long before Victoria heard several sets of footsteps approaching. She could only hope for the best, and, as she turned her head, her hopes were met.
After some quick introductions, she invited her guests in for some tea. They caught up for a while, informing each other of developments in their lives. Victoria explained the year she had just experienced, and how much of a relief it was to finally have the Doctor here. "I nearly thought Jamie was going to figure out on his own, once or twice."
The fact that she and Jamie were wed clearly came to the Doctor as a pleasant surprise. "You know, I have been alive for a long time indeed, but if I could call one thing in this universe a miracle, this would be it," he repeated several times.
"Oh, it's hardly a miracle. Just a lucky chain of events, really." Victoria smiled.
After the Doctor and his friends had taken off once more, Jamie took Victoria aside. "This whole year, and you didn't tell me?"
"Well, I couldn't, Jamie. I had to stick to the established chain of events. The Doctor took me here after we just saw him now. It was rather difficult, though. You would mention having strange dreams, and I would have to use all of my willpower to keep myself from telling you everything. Besides which, if what I had said didn't trigger your memory, the whole town would just call me crazy."
Jamie nodded in understanding. "Fair enough, I suppose."
As the two put out flames from candles and went off to bed, they knew that the life they were going to share together would be far greater of an adventure than any they had shared with the Doctor.


text:
A Masters degree gives you the opportunity to either further your understanding of a particular question or take off in a completely different way using skills you have gained from your previous undergraduate degree.
Business studies is an academic program that is designed for students wanting to learn more about how businesses are run. Courses may include more general topics or more specific ones to help prepare students for a particular career.
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a federal parliamentary republic in western-central Europe. The country consists of 16 states, and its capital and largest city is Berlin.
Neuss is a German city located in the west bank of the Rhine River in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It has a population of more that 100,000 people. Neuss is identified with its historic Roman sites.
Part time Master's Program in Business Studies in Neuss in Germany
The aim of the Master's program in Advanced Management at the University of Neuss is to prepare students for advanced command and staff duties in the private sector and the public sector [+]


text:
Poetic prose: Barbara
My friend spreads her branches
all the way from Aberdeen
down the wind to me.
A tree with hands like rafts
and a heart to slice for stepping stones;
she is my wand.
We are driving music, rock legends
for grown-up women
and elegant drunks.
Stages of our growth are evident
in albums, in sequences, in
sentences finished.
The future flashes images of dreams
and rings around trunks till
zimmers surround us.
January 2007 was cold; when we stepped off the plane heat engulfed us and the thought of a week under a strange hot sun raised our spirits. Spirits flew under the power of a plastic wristband – gently pickled but never actually drunk could describe most evenings though there was one that went as far as bouncing on beds and moving sun-beds on the terrace. Old age lends an elegance to behaviour but mostly experience brings boredom and a sense of been there done that.


text:
Horrid Henry : Book 1 Paperback
by Francesca Simon
Illustrated by Tony Ross
Part of the Horrid Henry series
A special 20th anniversary edition of the first ever Horrid Henry book in which Henry tries to be perfect for one day, learns to dance, argues with his arch enemy Moody Margaret and goes on holiday.
With a double die-cut cover and brand new extra material including the top twenty questions from Horrid Henry fans and readers about the world's favourite naughty boy - Has Horrid Henry got a girlfriend?
What's the worst thing Perfect Peter has ever done? Were Horrid Henry's mum and dad ever naughty? Look out for the answers! Horrid Henry is a prize-winning 20-million-copy-selling series, illustrated by Tony Ross, who also illustrates David Walliams' children's books, and his own picture books.
- Format: Paperback
- Pages: 112 pages, Illustrations
- Publisher: Hachette Children's Group
- Publication Date: 22/05/2014
- Category: Humorous
Other Formats
- Paperback from £4.65
- Mixed media product from £8.75
- EPUB from £2.49
Free Home Delivery
on all orders
Pick up orders
from local bookshops


text:
Having problems with your Panasonic MC-V7720 Bagless Upright Vacuum ?
My Panasonic MC-V7720 suddenly stopped working, any help? thanks!
\015 I have a vaccum cleaner panasonic mc-v7720 that suddenly stopped working. I have checked all the hoses and they are all clear. The electricity is not a problem because I can see the lights flushing on the machine, it is just that the motor seems to be not running. What can I do to fix it? Thanks\015
Answers :
Repair Help & Product Troubleshooting for Panasonic MC-V7720 Bagless Upright Vacuum
Tips for a great answer:- Provide details, support with references or personal experience .
- If you need clarification, ask it in the comment box .
- It's 100% free, no registration required.
Suggested Questions/Answers :
My Panasonic MC-V7720 suddenly stopped working, any help? thanks!
... Panasonic MC-V7720 Bagless Upright Vacuum
I have a panasonic mc-ul975 vacuum that works great when working properly. the airflow through the canister seems to stops once the aero blast technology is done running which causes the vacuum to not function as it should (does not have as much suction and the hose/tool accessories do not work at all). if air is continually running through the canister everything seems fine. please help!
Hi there. In Panasonic vacuums, there is a thermostat protection on the motor. It will auto ... Panasonic MC-UL975 Upright Vacuum
I have a Bissel 9300-C 0714 BC Carpet Shampooer. It was working great and all of a sudden it stopped working. It still sucks up dirty water but it does not spray water onto the carpet. I can get it to spray water through the smallest hand attatchment but not through the large hand held piece on the base of the machine. I really hope you can help me, I am a dog groomer and I really need my machine to work properly. I can get it to spray water out of the smallest hand attatchment but that's all t
The spray jet has become clogged from the soap.... just clean it out. same thing happened to my attachment. ... Bissell 1699 ProHeat Clear View Upright Steam Vacuum
I have a Hoover U3330 001 upright vacuum, while using it today the power suddenly cut out and it stopped working. I have replaced the fuse with a new and tested fuse, but the machine will still not power up. please can you help?
... Hoover Vacuums
My AEG (Electrolux) Business Flexio's (wet & dry) suction suddenly stopped working. I often replaced the bags. Did the motor burn out or is there possibly any other solution to try and rectify this problem? Would be very grateful for your help or suggestions. Kind regards, Anita
... AEG Vacuums
For some reason, our shark steam mop stop working. Usually after I plug the steam mop, the power light would light up then you would hear & see steam coming out of the mop's head but all of a sudden no power light would go on and no steam would come out. I can still use the mop, cause water from the tank still is able to flow down to the head. It's just that I'd have to use it like an ordinary mop not as the steam mop I liked. Pls help!!!
... Euro-Pro Shark Steam Mop - Gray/ Purple Vacuum
Stopped working while vacuuming heavy dust on patio the vacuum suddenly stopped working. I tried it on other outlets with no luck. I cleaned the filters and still no luck. Is there a circuit breaker if it get hot?
It cooled down and worked 20 minutes later ... Dyson DC14 Animal Bagless Upright Cyclonic Vacuum
I have a Howard Miller Westminster Chime Mantle Clock. It has always worked fine. It stopped working and my husband took the battery out to change it and when the new battery is in it will not work. It is Model 613-=103 movt 354201J dial 272142J. The part you put the battery in almost looks too big for one double A but I can't see how two would fit. I am afraid the battery is just not in right. Can you help me with how many batteries go in this clock or if it is one what the problem could be.
... Vacuums
Electrolux oxy 3 vaccum has stppoed working and all three blue lights flashing My electrolux oxy 3 ZO6330 stopped working suddenly and all lights are flashing. I've changed the bag and filter and its still not working. Any ideas??
... Electrolux Vacuums
I bought a minifridge from a local target store about 2 years ago. The minifridge just all of sudden stopped working. is there any thing i can do to get this replaced or worked on so it can work again.
Hi,\015\012\015\012Those mini fridges have a thermoelectric cooling unit... when they go bad they are not repairable... unfortunately they are made intending for them to be thrown out when they fail... but so is alot of stuff these days.. ... Vacuums
Roomba works but the dirt stops at the filter. New filter did not help.
The robot dirt tray has a vacuum motor to assist the dirt flow from the floor brushes. Yours is not working. recheck the connections on the dirt tray. ... iRobot Roomba Discovery SE Bagless Robotic Vacuum
Stopped working suddenly. wont come back on.
Try another otlet.if you have it plugged into a gfi outlet the little circit beraker on the outlet might have trippid if so push in on the red buttom till you hear it ckick.thatd resetting the gfi outlet.those kind of outlets can be found in thr kitc ... Oreck XLS700A Upright Vacuum
Suction stopped. Roller and belt working-in fine order. Checked hoses have not found any blockage. Blowing out air or sucking so little can't feel it with hand on hose end. Help!
Either a blockage or the main air filter is blocked , some it can be washed and others it must be replaced I would check the owner manual and look at the filter, foam ones can and usually have instructions where they install to wash them. ... Hoover Tempo Widepath Upright Vacuum - Blue
Hoover F7431-900 my carpet shampooer/steam vac was working fine until the brushes at the bottom of it just miraculously stopped working. they wont spin at all. Is this a motor problem? perhaps a water flow problem? please write back if you can be of any help. thanks
If the screen is not dirty, and the flapper valve to the turbine inlet is open, then the problem is mostly a stuck turbine impeller. The turbine impeller on my F7431-900 has seized TWICE!! The shaft for the turbine is not made of stainless steel, t ... Hoover F7431-900 SteamVac Vacuum
I have the IROBOT discovery that just got a new battery. IT ran great! As the battery was dying, I put it into the home base. The "brick" is green, the home base has two green lights and the on/off pulsates red. It never charges though. Eventually the red light stops pulsating. Customer service said to reset it, clean the metal, and nothing works! They told me to just buy another one. The problem is that I know it was working! Help!
The best thing that you can do is take the charger into somewhere that can test it for the proper output voltage. It should be somewhere very close to 22 volts with no fluctuation. The charger is the easiest thing to test in this case. ... iRobot Roomba 4210 Bagless Robotic Vacuum
My seb0 automatic x1 roller have stopped working . there is nothing stuck in it . the suction part is working perfectly. can you help please?
\015\012Almost certainly you've got a broken drive belt. This machine has two toothed belts and it makes sense to change both while you're at it. Incidentally, this is a job you shouldn't have to do very often - Sebo belts usually last at ... Sebo Automatic X1 Bagged Upright Vacuum
Sounds like it overheats quickly. But why are you not able to return it? ... Hoover U5750-900 WindTunnel Bagless Upright Vacuum
Not working I hit the switch and there is no sound of a motor. Nothing is happening. It was working seconds earlier and suddenly it stopped. The plug was in and I replugged it into the outlet. Still, no power and no motor sound. Does this happen if the belt goes? Thank you, Jill
If it was just a broken belt you would still hear the motor running. most likely its in your cord or switch. check the main cord, connections to the switch, and also the motor supply cord that goes from the handle to the vacuum head. ... Oreck XL Ultra Bagged Upright Vacuum
Vacuum head stopped working, unresponsive to on/off switch and light bulb is out. Canister otherwise works fine. Help!>?
Power head on/off switch could be faulty, Wires running through hose may be broken, electrical connections may be burnt.Motor in Powerhead could be dead. ... Vacuums
The telescoping wand on my kenmore magic blue cannister vacuum stopped working shortly after I bought it a few years ago. After 10 minutes of pushing sometimes I get it to work. It gets longer easier than shorter. What could be causing this problem? Please help!
... Kenmore Magic Blue 24195 Bagged Canister Vacuum
Eureka 431BX suction stopped working. Roller still goes. Please help! Everything else is working great.
Even though the brush is spinning, you probably need to replace the belt\015\012because ... Eureka 431BX Bagless Upright Vacuum
The brush on my bissell helix (model 22C1-2) stopped working all of a sudden today. The hose still sucks and everything. I even cleaned the spinning brush and it still doesnt work. I just bought it in August.
... Vacuums
Help Hi I have had my irobot roomba model 4000 now for 3 months now, I just LOVE it sooo much. I have used it everyday since I got it. But now it is not working. I cleaned it all out I even sprayed it with that air spray can. What happens is, It starts to go then it acts like there is something in the way and stops then goes the other way, then goes off. What is wrong? Please help!!!
I had the same kind of problem with my model 400 today...after starting it and having it go in a circle for 30 seconds or so it would finally run into something and then back up a few inches, turn, then go forward a few inches, then back up a few inc ... iRobot Roomba 4210 Bagless Robotic Vacuum
My Dyson DC07 stops working after a few minutes. It works again after a further 10 minutes and then cuts out again. I have cleaned the filter and checked for blockages but is still cutting out. Can anyone help?
Have you tried calling Dyson? I had a problem with my Animal, and their tech department talked me though the fix. Worth trying them first. ... Dyson DC07 Animal Bagless Upright Cyclonic Vacuum
I have a kenmore progressive direct drive handi mate jr. upright vacuum. My daughter used it last night to vacuum up some cat litter that had spilled on the floor. I went to use it today and it turned on for a second and then stopped working. I have hit the reset button but it will not turn on. Help this vacuum is only 2 years old Is there anything that I need to reset or do so that the vacuum will work again?
Its probably clogged up with cat litter.might have gotten into the motor.your motor has a motor guard inside if it. when it overheats it will shut down till it cools off.you need to clean all th cat liter out of it.and clean the filters.with a direct ... Kenmore Vacuums


text:
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Mark Topic as New
- Mark Topic as Read
- Float this Topic for Current User
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Printer Friendly Page
Re: Predict the Last of Us sales!
that reminds me btw, there was this kid, a dutch kid, spoke the same language as me, he sounded very young, he was not one of those rage kids you know who use bad language, it was a nice kid, but he was only 7 years old, and he had a brother of 3 years old, both playing uncharted, so I said to my buddy how parents could allow such things, why let a kid of 3 and 7 play a game in which you kill people and is meant for 15 years or older, but the mother of the kids was listening to me (probably had headset output from the tv) and she took the headset from her son and began raging about what the heck I had to do with how she raised her kids, it ended up being a 15 minute long discussion about how to raise kids, funny stuff
Re: Predict the Last of Us sales![ Edited ]
Re: Predict the Last of Us sales!
AKyemeni wrote:
@eyecue - what are u talking about?
You payed old people to buy a game for you ergo you payed above MSRP!
EyeCue86 is a symbol of free speech. Any attempt to censor EyeCue86 is an act of evil.
"It's that time of the month again, Joel"
-Ellie, The Last of Us
Re: Predict the Last of Us sales!
Nate3963 wrote:
Matthijs_17 wrote:
Nate3963 wrote:
I saw that at the EB Games the other day. The boy was like 10-12 years old.
The Mom went up to the register and asked the boy what game do you want sweetie?
"Black Ops 2" Easy as that. She didn't even ask about it. That's real parenting.
Wish my parents were like that, it was like an interrogation when I went to get a game. Millions of questions. I just wanted Smash Bros Melee. Animated Violence was too much for my child eyes apparently.
Oh right. I predict.... 3.5 - 4 million sales. At best.
it's sad that I once was such a kid, my parents wouldn't allow me to buy such games though, but when I was 18 years old, I bought call of duty 5 just to **bleep** them off, and friends told me it was a good game (should have never believed them), I ended up pretending I liked it because I didn't want to feel like I wasted my money, at least I learned from it though to never believe someone else on which games are good, because I have a complete different taste...
it's also sad that this unfortunate event has still burned it's way into my trophy list, wish I could delete it, but I can't, so I tried to get some trophies for it, I completed the single player on veteran (people said that it was pretty hard, so I thought maybe I enjoy the challenge, and even if I'm not into first person shooters I did completed it on veteran pretty easy, sure I died a lot, but I never really got stuck), and I noticed that the zombie mode was pretty fun, so I kept playing that for a while, then I got bored and stopped playing it, and I never intend to buy any first person shooter again, ok, maybe just killzone shadow fall for the nice graphics, and it's probably a lot better than cod
Lol Matt, you were one of those kids?
(I'm having such a sh*tty time) *Here comes my friend*
"WHHOOOOOO! Yeah! Best game ever! I love it"
(God this sucks). Shadow Fall does look good though. PS4 in general looks real good.
sadly yes, but I must also blame the fact that I got heavily bullied from 6 years old to 19 years old, I'm currently 23 and it's now over and I have nice friends and stuff, but those times were a nightmare, and if you have in those times only 1 or 2 good friends and they both like call of duty, then of course you want to buy that game too so you can play more with them and feel less lonely when at home, **bleep** times, really **bleep** times, glad it's over though, I learned how to be myself, find friends who like you how you are, so it's a lot better now
Re: Predict the Last of Us sales!
AKyemeni wrote:
@eyecue - And? A person gotta get games somehow
AKyemeni wrote:
@eyecue - And? A person gotta get games somehow
Amazon+Free Shipping
EyeCue86 is a symbol of free speech. Any attempt to censor EyeCue86 is an act of evil.
"It's that time of the month again, Joel"
-Ellie, The Last of Us
Re: Predict the Last of Us sales!
Re: Predict the Last of Us sales!
fadi002 wrote:
I pre-ordered The Last Of Us at EB Games (gamestop) and they never asked to see any ID or have my parents buy it, lol. I'm 16. Though I hope they won't ask for that when I'm actually picking it up...
I doubt they would give up a sale for some stupid guideline following.
This months old sig image will remain till the end of days.


text:
Phillip Jacobs avait besoin d'un nouveau design de logo et a lancé un concours sur 99designs.
Un gagnant a été sélectionné de 195 designs proposés par 46 designers freelance.
A graphic and the name wijix created as a logo.
We are looking for the logo to be a brand and to be recognizable by the graphic you design.
Logo for wijix.com.
The colors can be anything you like.
I will provide feedback to help after your submission.
Play up the X or the iji part of the name wijix.
A graphic along with the name wijix in lowercase type.
Do not include .com on the logo


text:
- Find a Home
- Buy a Home
- Sell a Home
- Research Mortgages
- Agents
- Community
We couldn't find the property you were looking for,
but check out these other properties in this zip code:
|Single Family: $1,599,000
5 Beds | 4.00 Baths | 6,094 sq. ft.
Outdoor Living! Pool,Fountains,Cabana w/Cooktop,Granite Ctrs,Fridg & FULL Bath.Bright Breakfast Room & Gameroom overlook Pool.Office w/Fireplace & Coffered Ceiling.Kitchen w/Solid Cherry Cabinets. Carriage House 2 Car Garage*Estate Home on 2.8 PLUS ACRES*
|Single Family: $1,500,000
5 Beds | 4.00 Baths | 7,943 sq. ft.
This 'Best Of Class' estate home literally has it all! Fabulous lakefront location,incredible kitch,jaw dropping game room,den,full commercial bar,home theater,home gym,master suite,pool,gazebo,spa & stunning terrace! This home is the best of the best!
|Single Family: $1,489,000
5 Beds | 5.00 Baths | 5,910 sq. ft.
Spectactular home on acre+ lot w/ panoramic lake views. Custom built by Southern Structures w/all the features found in the finest of homes. Great kitchen w/keeping room. Home theater! Outdoor life unmatched at the Lake. Elegantly comfortable-A Must See!
|Single Family: $1,295,000
4 Beds | 5.00 Baths | 7,271 sq. ft.
OWNER FINANCING AVAILABLE! Your own country estate overlooking Cedar Hollow Lk. 3 beautiful levels of living space w/serene lake views.Main level mstr/wFP & lake views.Home theatre w/raised platform seating.Lower level in-law suite.
|Single Family: $1,190,000
5 Beds | 5.00 Baths | 7,234 sq. ft.
New Very Aggressive Price**A Real Deal**Exquisite Lake View home in gated community* 10'ceils & elaborate mouldings*2 sty Den & Foyer*WOW Kitchen* Office+Sun rm* 1st flr MBR Suite w/lavish BA*Finished Basement w/Media rm/ fp&surround sound*Game rm+ BR&BA*
|Single Family: $1,175,000
4 Beds | 4.00 Baths | 4,848 sq. ft.
Spectacular home with over 374 ft. of waterfront views on premier lot loaded w/privacy. Custom built by S.Structures. ML master with separate his and her bathrooms.Tremendous space upstairs.Gorgeous screened porch.Gas generator can power the whole house.
|Single Family: $1,100,000
5 Beds | 3.00 Baths | 6,101 sq. ft.
Incredible Lake View home in Gated Lake Jeanette*Lg rooms w/elegant detail*5 FP*2 screened porches*Sunroom*Dream Kit w/hdwd flrs, Viking dbl ovens,granite*Bkfst with stone FP*Basement Media Rm*excellent bk yd with terrace.Lake views from most rooms
|Single Family: $925,000
4 Beds | 4.00 Baths | 4,200 sq. ft.
WOW!!Only house under million $ on water -Magnificent view all rms.on back. all interiors walls insulated, Price includes,furnishings 8+TVs,.Game Rm w/FP,pool table,wet bar+ new paint,rugs,stucco FP Hot tub M.& 2nd Bed on M,can pur. without furnishings.
|Single Family: $924,900
5 Beds | 6.00 Baths | 5,500 sq. ft.
MOTIVATED BUILDER - $10,000 lender incentive toward cc/pt,or upgrades, English Country Estate w/character&quality,gourmet Kit w/stone surround&grnte tops,versatile bsmt w/Kit&Media Rm&expan space,rear wooded lot,trex deck,10'&9'ceilings
|Single Family: $924,900
5 Beds | 4.00 Baths | 5,513 sq. ft.
Exquisite Contemporary on 10.8 Acres Minutes from Downtown! Soaring ceilings, mahogany/cherry/tile flooring* Indoor atrium* Game rm w/sauna&full BA+wet bar* Most BRs have lake view* Expansive decking, inground pool&lighted tennis court*LL inlaw quarters*
|Single Family: $899,900
4 Beds | 4.00 Baths | 4,700 sq. ft.
Prestigious showcase home in Premier Northern Shores. Elaborate molding & millwork, wainscoting & chairrail. Grande 2-story foyer & Living Room. Elegant cherry-paneled library. Charming covered porches overlook pond & fountain.
|Single Family: $899,000
4 Beds | 4.00 Baths | 4,230 sq. ft.
This home like all Combs Custom Homes is top drawer quality loaded with amenities like a gourmet kitchen, fabulous 1st floor master suite, covered terrace with cedar beams, custom garage doors, custom staircases, stone fireplace & more!
|Single Family: $899,000
6 Beds | 5.00 Baths | 5,162 sq. ft.
Wonderful lake front lot on desirable cul de sac street in Lake Jeanette Northern Shores. Enjoy morning coffee and awesome nature views from your private deck overlooking wooded lot. Perfect for large family, complete with teen suite on 3rd level!
|Single Family: $869,900
4 Beds | 5.00 Baths | 4,900 sq. ft.
Extraordinary financing is available as low 4.99% fixed call for details. Exquisite Old World English Manor Home!Corner estate lot,wet bar&wine rm, Lg DR to entertain, Fantastic Wow Kitchen,all BRs w/pvtBAsuites, Study w/f/pl wine cellar wonderful 10'clgs
|Single Family: $865,000
4 Beds | 3.00 Baths | 4,447 sq. ft.
Gated Community* Prime lake view* Designer decor* Open plan great for entertaining* Lavish 1st flr MBR Suite w/fp&lake view* 1st flr Guest BR Suite* Screened Porch+huge deck* 2nd flr Game/Media rm w/kitchenette*Cozy Den w/stone fp*Bsmt stg w/ext access*
|Single Family: $849,900
4 Beds | 4.00 Baths | 4,603 sq. ft.
SPECIAL 4.99% FINANCING AVAILABLE THROUGH BANK OF OAK RIDGE!! Crown throughout, granite in kit&all BA & Butler pantry. Walk-in closets, 2 laundry rms. Gourmet kit w/stainless & dbl ovens.Covered rear porch,deck and outdoor kitchen for entertaining.
|Single Family: $829,900
4 Beds | 3.00 Baths | 4,797 sq. ft.
RARE FIND! Custom in '07 w/Elevator,2-sty grt rm w/catwalk & stone FP, FP in kp rm, ML MBR w/cathdrl clng,MBA w/clawfoot tub,cook's kit w/lrg island & custom cabs, Bonus apt w/full kit, screened in porch,Renai wtr htr,$10,000 for addtl lndscp w/acc. offer
|Single Family: $779,900
4 Beds | 3.00 Baths | 5,059 sq. ft.
Beautiful european styling on private wooded lot.Over 5000 sq ft of exquisite details.Bosch stnls steel appl, granite.Bonus wired for theatre! Energy eff icynene ins!Trellis deck w/ourdoor fpl. Award Winner! Agent related to seller.
|Single Family: $779,000
4 Beds | 3.00 Baths | 4,398 sq. ft.
DON'T PAY HIGH JUMBO LOAN RATES!SPECIAL FINANCING AVAILABLE,call for details!Custom Europen style estate.Gour. kitchen,fabulous appointments thruout.Open flpn,grand rm szs.Mst/main w/sit rm & fp/bltins.Bonus & loft,sep.guest suite.Private bkyd.Must See!
|Single Family: $775,000
4 Beds | 3.00 Baths | 4,367 sq. ft.
NOW OFFERING $7000 PROJ HDTV W/110' SCREEN & SURRND SOUND! Unique coffered clngs, 2-Stry Great Rm w/art niches & fp, Gourmet Kit w/custom cabs, Vltd Keeping Rm w/fp, Theater Rm,Game Rm, LR w/faux paint, Walk-up floored attic, Community Amenites Pkg avail.
|Foreclosure: $731,200
4 Beds | 3.00 Baths | 6,154 sq. ft.
This property is a Notice of Foreclosure Sale. A notice was filed at the recorder's office by the lender's attorney signifying a public auction. This 6154 square foot property has 4 bedroom(s) and 3 bath(s). The estimated bid amount is $731,200.00. This property will be auctioned at public sale on Monday, March 19, 2012. To access more extensive information on this property click the 'more property detail' link below. You...
|Single Family: $700,000
6 Beds | 5.00 Baths | 5,200 sq. ft.
LAKE VIEW! Wolfe blt. 4bdrms 2nd/1bdrm &bth 3rd/1bdrm &bth basemt. LR w/fp/blt-ins,Bfast&Kitch w/granite windowed to lakeview. Master w/sitting rm w/fp/blt-ins. 3rd flr Bonus/Bdrm/bth. Home theatre &Den in basemt. Wood flrs main. Irrig. 2 tiered decking.
|Single Family: $700,000
4 Beds | 5.00 Baths | 5,724 sq. ft.
This house was a deal before and it is an even greater deal now! Builder has reduced price 50K and is offering financing incentive! Take advantage of super low rates. Full finished basement with 10' ceilings. Keeping Room. Gorgeous lot. Ck out pics.
|Single Family: $699,900
4 Beds | 3.00 Baths | 3,650 sq. ft.
The breathtaking Brownstone Model is also available to lease with an option to buy. This is a stunning and beautiful home located in the heart of Lake Jeanette.Too many custom features to mention. A must see!!! Can buy furnished!!
|Single Family: $670,000
3 Beds | 3.00 Baths | 3,200 sq. ft.
Magnificent Architechtural Statement!Surrounded by Japanese garden w/water feature.Lake front/3.03 ac.Main house & 2 adjoining apts/inlaw ste.Visit www.grigni.com,#5,Nature Lovers,for description,view/virtual tour.Ent.stone w/Jap charctrs does not remain
|Single Family: $664,900
5 Beds | 4.00 Baths | 4,046 sq. ft.
Beautiful home in the new Northern Point. 5 BR with a master up. Open floorplan with large study and 3 car garage. A 13'6 x 12' screened porch. Master Suite has a double tray and huge walk in closet.
|Single Family: $659,900
4 Beds | 3.00 Baths | 3,720 sq. ft.
|Single Family: $659,000
4 Beds | 4.00 Baths | 3,493 sq. ft.
Gorgeous wide view of Lake Jeanette! Lovely 2-story vaulted GR w/custom built-ins, detailing & wet bar. Great Kit w/granite c-tops & SS appls. MBR w/trey ceiling ML. MBR 2nd flr also.(2-BRs on ML) Beautiful Hdwd flrs & wd moldings. Lots of amenities!
|Single Family: $649,900
4 Beds | 3.00 Baths | 4,416 sq. ft.
2 YR JOB LOSS MORTGAGE PROTECTION Exquisite detailing with Sunstar quality throughout, loaded with extras,expandable 3rd floor.Sleek kitchen w/stainless and granite, master shower with dual heads,irrigation,bath for each bedroom,2 stry den.See agt remarks
|Single Family: $649,900
4 Beds | 3.00 Baths | 4,700 sq. ft.
Quality construction with space galore! Offers main level master suite w/ large sitting area that opens to screened porch. Bonus and media room upstairs. Bedroom with attached office/nursery/playroom. Plenty of space to entertain.
|Single Family: $645,000
4 Beds | 3.00 Baths | 4,044 sq. ft.
Casual Elegance abounds*Excellent Lake Jeanette home*Incredible Kit w/granite, hdwd s, HUGE island & 2 sinks*Lg FR w/built-ins,fpl, coffered ceiling*2nd flr MBR w/office & lavish bth*Private bk yd w/patio, wooded view*only 3 car garage in daybreak square!
|Single Family: $639,000
4 Beds | 3.00 Baths | 3,649 sq. ft.
OPEN HOUSE 3/1/09, 2-4pm -Exceptional Home w/Exquisite Details! Main level Master, Oversized Kit. & Vaulted Keeping rm w/FP. Coffered DR, handmade Knotty Alder cabinets, walk-in storage. Grand rm overlooks private bckyd. Sq.Ft.& rm sizes per blders plans.
|Single Family: $639,000
4 Beds | 4.00 Baths | 3,631 sq. ft.
New construction in Lake Jeanette area. Large covered porch in the front and back of home. Great living space with big rooms. Extensive molding package. All bedrooms have seperate bath. Must see!!
|Single Family: $630,000
4 Beds | 4.00 Baths | 4,520 sq. ft.
Beautiful home in Lake Jeanette area. Large open floor plan. Coffered cieling in Great Room. A must see Master Suite. Playroom on 2nd floor and over 900 sq. ft Bonus Room on 3rd floor.
|Single Family: $629,900
4 Beds | 3.00 Baths | 3,740 sq. ft.
Beautiful brick/stone home that is located in the new Northern Point. Large open family room with. Masters up and down. Filled with custom features.
|Single Family: $625,000
4 Beds | 3.00 Baths | 4,093 sq. ft.
Quality home in Lake Jeanette. Heavy mouldings, beautiful wood floors, pool with spa, cul-de-sac location. Master bedroom with sitting room and fireplace. Three level theater room. So many more exceptional feature! Must see to appreciate!
|Single Family: $619,900
4 Beds | 3.00 Baths | 3,700 sq. ft.
Great Lot! Custom built home w/open floor. Huge main level master. 3 car garage. Gourmet kitchen open to den. Lots of storage. Agent is owner.
|Single Family: $619,000
4 Beds | 4.00 Baths | 4,901 sq. ft.
Wow! This is it! Beautiful home w/ 10 foot ceilings up & down, curved stairway, covered patio, over 2 acres, vacuum, security system, Rennai water heater, fabulous kitchen, keeping room, & more...
|Single Family: $609,900
4 Beds | 3.00 Baths | 3,441 sq. ft.
$10,000 CASH AT CLOSING!!!!! A beautiful 1.5 story home in the new Northern Point.From its multiple ceiling heights to its wonderful outdoor living spaces,this is a breath taking home. 4 br 3.5 baths. Great open floor plan.
|Single Family: $609,000
4 Beds | 4.00 Baths | 3,488 sq. ft.
Beautiful brick home in the new Norhtern Point. Home features 4 bedrooms all with a private bath. Master is on the 2nd level. Main floor has a two level family room open to the breakfast and kitchen. A large screened porch for outdoor living.
|Single Family: $600,000
4 Beds | 4.00 Baths | 5,073 sq. ft.
Pampered three-level brick with space to expand. Flooring on main level hardwood and tile. Gourmet kitchen with stainless appliances. Front and back stairs, ideal area for in-law suite, huge unfinished areas, off site septic could allow for pool.
|Single Family: $599,500
5 Beds | 4.00 Baths | 3,635 sq. ft.
*New Price!! 5 BR 4 Full BA + bonus w/ built ins! 2 staircases. Wet Bar. 5th on main! Jack & Jill Bath. NEW Mudroom w/ built in laundry center, desk, cubbies & pantry. Large deck on serene lot next to nature trail.
|Single Family: $599,000
4 Beds | 3.00 Baths | 3,827 sq. ft.
Luxury living in Lake Jeanette N. Shores cul de sac. Enjoy morning coffee in custom designed screened porch, overlooking expansive lot, mature hardwoods & fenced yard. Large rooms, beautiful floors, kitchen w/ SS & granite! Lease/Purchase option.
|Single Family: $598,000
3 Beds | 4.00 Baths | 5,136 sq. ft.
YOU CAN'T BEAT THIS VALUE! Almost 1000sf more living space than model* 4 levels w/elevator*10' ceilings, exquisite moldings, granite countertops*3rd lvl BR&BA+craft rm*Fin bsmt w/Kitchen, potential 4th BR or inlaw suite & full BA*FP in Rec rm*Priv patio
|Single Family: $595,000
4 Beds | 2.00 Baths | 3,735 sq. ft.
This Fantastic Transitional Home w/9 acres adjoins the 600 ac Haw River State Park! The Long Gravel Drive leads to Quiet, Peaceful, Tranquil setting among the Majestic Oaks!! Incl 50' plasma TV & sound system. 2 sided stone fpl, Southern Pine beams & flrs
|Single Family: $575,000
5 Beds | 4.00 Baths | 4,564 sq. ft.
Jobe built, open kitchen & den. 5th bedroom or bonus. Basement w/large rec room. Screened porch, large patio, deck, separate shower, hardwoods. Please view Media for a list of this home's special features.
|Single Family: $575,000
4 Beds | 4.00 Baths | 5,232 sq. ft.
Vacation at home! Incredible outdoor family recreation on 1.77ac. Three levels of spacious rooms. Main level master suite, kitchen with maple cabinets, solid surface counters and island. Massive storage and garage workshop.
|Single Family: $575,000
4 Beds | 3.00 Baths | 3,383 sq. ft.
Wrap around front porch & covered rear porch overlooks brick patio* Priv fenced yd backs to common area*1st flr MBR w/lavish BA*Great Rm w/gas FP/built-ins & opens to Kit*Prof faux fin walls*Close to lake & N Shores Park area*Whole House Generac Generator
|Single Family: $569,900
5 Beds | 4.00 Baths | 3,976 sq. ft.
Beautiful 5 bedroom home in the exclusive Northern Point. Master is on the main with a sitting area and stunning master bath. There are 3 bedrooms and 2.5 baths upstairs. Also features a wonderful outdoor living space.
|Single Family: $559,900
5 Beds | 3.00 Baths | 4,924 sq. ft.
Dream Custom-Builder's Home 3.4 Acre Private Culdesac lot.Approx.5000 sqft,10 ft.Ceilings on Main 9ft.Up, 5Bedrms+ Office.Notice Huge Room Sizes!Master & Office on Main,Formals,Gorgeous detail Work,Granite,Generator,Screened Porch,Central Vac+ Much more!


text:
Restored dresser, restores hope
02 August 2014 , 5:46 AM by Terri Begley
Even in August 2014, there are still stories linked to the 2011 floods that are inspiring.
We got an email this week from a Sherwood man Jim whose home - on the banks of the Oxley Creek - was flooded over the second floor.
His family lost just about everything.
Here's part of Jim's email....
In the chaotic 24 hours leading up to our evacuation, we emptied the house as much as possible but were constrained by the speed of the waters advance and lack of sufficient transport ( one small trailer). In the end we saved some items which were critical to what was then an uncertain future and made the gut wrenching decision to leave so many personal items behind we lost our wedding album, my wife s wedding dress and a number of home videos of our kids from the time of their birth.
Now to add to the anguish of Jim's family at the time - there was a very special piece of furniture they had to leave to the ravages of the rising flood water.
Jim spoke with Terri Begley about the piece of furniture and how it has become an emblem of his family's struggle to rebuild their lives.
You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.
What a beautiful piece of furniture.The restorers need to be given a medal. Looking forward to seeing the look on Jim's wife's face when she sees it.m
Posted by: Elaine McLurej | 02 August 2014 at 08:53 AM
Have the tissues ready at the 50th Jim! Your wife is going to be so overwhelmed by this beautiful birthday gift. I wish we had a lot more of these kinds of stories. The human spirit is alive and well. Thanks for sharing.
Posted by: Kate O'Mara | 02 August 2014 at 08:54 AM
Verify your Comment
Previewing your Comment
This is only a preview. Your comment has not yet been posted.
As a final step before posting your comment, enter the letters and numbers you see in the image below. This prevents automated programs from posting comments.
Having trouble reading this image? View an alternate.


text:
When life can become a bit too much.
Sophie woke to the rain pounding against the window and the wind was howling. She knew what was ahead of her again today,oh the sorrow she felt was overwhelming. Another day of no job,no money,no friends,no family,no love,no motivation,no one. She was feeling at her wits end today especially though,more than other days. Bleak and alone,bleak and alone,so very bleak and alone. She dragged herself out of bed and started shaking with the piercing cold. The oil had not been ordered in quite some time because she could not pay, and now her only means of heat was the open fire. "Thank God",she said aloud for the open fire. Sophie could not remember the feeling of warmth from any other source- not even the human touch; it felt as though she had been feeling cold all her life. Being abandoned by everyone certainly was the coldest feeling of all and she hated the bitter feeling and resentment which constantly haunted her daily life, "why me? why me?". She lit a match to the fire and prayed it would provide some quick heat,this flame was all she could rely on to make her heart flutter,if only for the short term anyway. As the flames grew thicker and stronger,she stared deep into them and felt the glow against her ashen face heal the hurts of a lonely girl,a childhood lost. She hugged herself tightly in the hopes she would feel reassured like other days,but instead all that came was a stream of heavy tears. She sobbed and sobbed for what felt like an eternity,rocking back and forth in the squeaky armchair ,knowing that soon this fire would die down...the fire will die down. And then what? Panic ensued. She felt sick. She felt frightened. She needed help,but there was no one who cared,no one wanted her and no one ever would. By now,her tired eyes were red raw and stinging. She had to think of a plan,but what? She knew she could not go on like this for much longer,her soul was dying fast and so was her mind. The only one to save her now was herself and she vowed to do just that.


text:
It only takes a minute to get started. Fill out our simple sign up form and login to the site.
This step is up to you but will dramatically multiply your chances of having members look at your profile. Write a few sentences about yourself, your interests and upload your best photo.
Use our website's sophisticated search to find members who fulfill your requirements. Or just leaf through listings and find daters that arouse your interest.
Identified someone who takes your fancy? Send a note to them or just a wink and see if they're interested. With a little luck you'll be on your way to discovering your ideal match.
It'll only take a few minutes


text:
Humane Society to acquire Countryside Humane Society
The Wisconsin Humane Society announced Friday that it expects to acquire the assets of Racine's Countryside Humane Society on Jan. 1.
The acquisition includes assuming the responsibilities for animal care, animal control and adoption services for 4,000 animals in Racine County each year.
In a statement, the Humane Society said it was approached earlier this year by Countrywide about a possible acquisition.
"We are grateful for the work CHS has done for the Racine community over the years and are excited to expand our lifesaving services to Racine County," said Anne Reed, executive director at the Wisconsin Humane Society. "The acquisition will bring the resources of the oldest and largest humane society in the state to the animals and citizens of Racine County. More animals' lives will be saved as a result of the acquisition, and we will have the opportunity to create a more compassionate community by offering new programming for both children and adults."
The Wisconsin Humane Society is the oldest and largest shelter in Wisconsin. The nonprofit organization was founded in 1879 and currently operates shelters in Milwaukee and Saukville.
The Countryside Humane Society is a nonprofit organization founded in 1992 that provides animal control, adoption and other community services for Racine County residents.


text:
Seoul Sausage Wins The Great Food Truck Race; $45 Tasting Menu Every Tuesday at Alma
The Korean sausage truck opens its brick and mortar this Saturday.By Hadley Tomicki
The Korean sausage truck opens its brick and mortar this Saturday.By Hadley Tomicki
Lunasia offers the Chinese breakfast marvels until 8:30 P.M.By Hadley Tomicki
The meatless go crazy when they learn Starbucks has spiked their shakes with coloring from a beetle.
Plus: EN Japanese Brasserie serves weekend brunch, and more, in our daily roundup of neighborhood news.
The event began with a cooking demo by Julia Child.By Hadley Tomicki
Former four-star chef's new line of to-go food is named after sex acts.By Adam Martin
Bauer contends Fine Dining is "under siege" but most closures this year have been in the middle range.By Adam Martin
A status update on La Otra, Village Tart, and of course Permanent Brunch, which will feature the city's first bacon bar.By Daniel Maurer


text:
Part Nine of an ongoing series.
Catch up with Part One here.
Please consider joining my Patreon – now with subscriber exclusives,
including my new podcast Tegan Reads Wookieepedia!
including my new podcast Tegan Reads Wookieepedia!
So let me explain why Star Wars is cool . . .
I'm going to assume you know nothing about Star Wars. I'm going to assume, furthermore, that you may very well have negative associations with Star Wars. There is nothing whatsoever cool about Star Wars, after all. With neither the redeeming social messages of Star Trek nor the cult exoticism of Dr. Who, it instead reaffirms conventional family values and appeals to the lowest common denominator with whiz-bang special effects. The whole package, finally is gilded with populist New Age philosophical tripe.
Yet it lingers. It stuck. It stuck with aficionados and the general public. Even people who hate the movies know them. Most movies are disposable. Even a great director will only be remembered for a handful of truly great films, and most directors struggle their entire careers to find just one. Lucas will be remembered as a filmmaker long after most of his influences have been forgotten. Star Wars is ubiquity. The films will linger after much of the twentieth century is dust. They are the hegemon.
It's different now. Star Wars was always going to be more than George Lucas intended. It's never going to be the same, much as Spider-Man was never quite the same after Steve Ditko left. But Spider-Man lingered far past his expiration date due to being a popular idea owned by people who want to make a great deal of money.
I used to think it was important to specify that Star Wars wasn't science fiction, and that it had little to do with science fiction other than the setting. It's fantasy, so goes this argument. There's no attempt to use the technology and environments in the films as anything other than tools and backdrops, to the degree that the same plots could be applied to any setting and remain legible. That's intentional. Outer space works because it defamiliarizes the audience. We are told in the very first few frames, with those same ten words everyone knows by heart, that we are a long way from home, and that the events in this world have no possible resonance with our own. The existence of magic, then, takes the events one step further even from the already unfamiliar. We are in myth.
Go one step further, though: we are told to suspend our critical faculties. We're safe. No ideology here.
But follow me a moment: what if I was wrong? Accept the premise that the setting of Star Wars does matter. The setting is centrally important. It's not incidental. Everything you need to know about galactic culture can be extrapolated from the attitude that galactic citizens have towards technology and history. In turn, everything you need to know about Star Wars can be extrapolated from understanding this galactic culture – including why the story has lingered in our culture when so much else falls away.
So, how do the characters within Star Wars feel about science and technology in their universe?
No one cares. No one stops to gawk at technological marvels. There is little scientific exposition. No one stops to explain how something works to another character – no attempts are made to provide the same kind of authentication devices that other sci-fi reflexively peppers into dialogue. What little there is describes immediate cause-and-effect – press a button and something happens. Power converters convert power, it can be assumed from context. Assumedly that's a useful function.
Han Solo fixes the Millennium Falcon the same way car guys work on old cars: spitballs and bailing wire, whatever gets it on the road. If you asked him to explain the ins-and-outs of how his faster-than-light drive works he'd probably be able to tell you about as much as the average gearhead about the chemistry of the internal combustion engine. Maybe some, but it's hardly a priority.
No one who sees the Death Star marvels at the incredible scientific acumen required to construct a mobile battle station so big. Everyone in the galaxy is accustomed to a high degree of scientific accomplishment as a fact of daily life. It doesn't need to be interesting, it just needs to be scary. No one cares about the how, which leaves the story free to focus on the question of why.
The beauty of Star Wars is that so much care has been spent making the universe onscreen appear normal for the people who inhabit it. No one is awkwardly walking around a sci-fi movie set because it's the future and in the far future people are stiff and self-conscious. People are sitting down to family dinner, hunched around an awkward meeting table and getting yelled at by the boss, playing video games with dirtbag friends in their basement apartment. Everyone has technology but most can't afford the good stuff – or at least the new stuff – so things break. Such very specific details paint a picture of a lived-in world, a world where people have hobbies, listen to music, go to sporting events, and take drugs. People in Star Wars get drunk, talk shit, and are generally quite racist – even the good guys.
The conceit of Star Wars is that literally every character onscreen has a story. You don't know that story. It entirely incidental to the plot. You probably don't even know the character's name. He looks like he's been around, seen a few things. He adds nothing to the plot of the movie, but his presence sells the setting. When you watch a movie set in present day New York you take it for granted that an extra walking through the scene has a life and a story outside of the movie – obviously they do, they're a person just like me and you. Likewise, extras in Star Wars get to be effectively interesting even covered in makeup and spray painted car parts. The camera lingers on "boring" verisimilitude that most other sci-fi doesn't touch.
The galactic civilization in Star Wars is old enough that most people don't need to know why technology works the way it does. Engineers are still quite popular, and necessary to design the latest ships and battle stations. But scientific breakthroughs have no immediate bearing on the story of Star Wars.
The characters are the inheritors of a very old universe. The technological infrastructure necessary to maintain a galaxy-wide civilization was constructed so far in the past that no one in these stories knows or cares. Who mapped the hyperspace lanes that allow near-instantaneous interstellar travel at speeds far exceeding "conventional" faster-than-light? No one gives them a second thought, and the lanes are regarded as a public utility. Who carved the crumbling fragments of Cyclopean masonry that dot the series? Every planet in the galaxy is ancient, with tens of thousands of years of mysteries waiting to be uncovered. But the populace is so inured to ancient mysteries that they carry little interest to anyone but the locals.
There must have been a time even longer ago, before the time of the films, when the Galaxy was not yet so tightly connected. Before hyperspace it had to have been as hard to get between planets as it is for us, now. Then the galaxy became interconnected and suddenly trade was possible, massive resettlements and immigration were possible, cultural exchange was possible. War was possible. The galaxy has been what it is for a very long time.
Star Wars doesn't do a lot of things that other sci-fi does:
It doesn't assume that planets have only one government and culture. Planets have civil wars and competing states.
It doesn't assume that technological advancement naturally leads to civilized enlightenment. There are peaceful isolationist races and noisy belligerent civilizations operating at roughly the same level of technology.
It doesn't assume that inequality won't exist. Some planets do better than others. Some races are better suited to travel and commerce than others. Some planets have really fucked up political situations, some seem to operate without much in the way of organized politics. A giant chunk of the galaxy is owned outright by a cartel of near-immortal xenophobic slugs that don't even regard bipeds as fully sentient. (Probably not great for anyone else in that part of the galaxy.)
Star Wars does, however, assume that even advanced technological civilizations could never fully escape corruption and inefficiency. It assumes that history is cyclical, with devastating conflicts recurring throughout history with alarming regularly. It assumes that children are wise to be skeptical of their parents. Intelligence is no guarantor of virtue in these stories, but ignorance is punished severely.
Most races in the galaxy seem content to simply be. It's humans who create the most problems, humans who build Imperial war machines to set the galaxy on fire to satisfy their egos. Humans don't even have a homeworld, they're just there, everywhere across the galaxy from Coruscant to the depths of Hutt Space, prolific breeders without much in the way of natural gifts save for their adaptability. This is a tactical advantage over many other races, and their ubiquity makes them the single most powerful species in the galaxy through sheer weight. Other races, one imagines, say unflattering things about humans when humans aren't around.
So why is all of this important?
Immersion is the key sensation of Star Wars. Everything feels real, carries authority that makes every frame seem like a portal into another world, perfectly plausible on its own terms. A galaxy of adventure left for the viewer to explore independently. For the first two decades of Star Wars' existence, this sense of projection was vital to the survival of the franchise.
It's easy to forget, now, but Star Wars went away. After Return of the Jedi faded from theaters in 1983, attempts were made to expand the franchise with cheap spin-offs – the Droids and Ewoks cartoons, a pair of made-for-TV Ewok films. These didn't take and without new movies on the horizon toy sales dried up. By the late 80s Star Wars was as dead as Star Trek had been in the early 70s. But just as generations of nerds learned Star Trek from seeing the original series on TV over and over again for decades, the Star Wars films never went away either. People loved them and watched them whenever they showed up on TV, which was a special event – but they were spoken of in the past tense. Star Wars was a thing that had happened.
Things used to go away and people took it for granted that they didn't come back. Star Wars was very popular for a while, and then it wasn't quite as popular anymore because it was gone. Even if everyone knew that Lucas had always spoke vaguely about the possibility of new films, no one ever seriously imagined it would happen. It was fun to talk about. Maybe someday.
In hindsight Star Wars really didn't stay away for long. The property regained traction in the early 90s, expanding into a popular series of novels and returning to comics. There were a few years in the late 80s where the only new Star Wars material being produced were role-playing sourcebooks from West End Games. These books helped fan the waning embers of Star Wars fandom, ensuring there was still a core audience of die-hards left when Lucas ramped up production of new material set in the now defunct Expanded Universe.
I wasn't paying much attention at the time. I didn't care that there were new Star Wars novels on the shelves. I didn't read Star Trek novels, and at the time I liked Star Trek better. There was a lot of Trek in the 90s. It fit the times. The 90s were optimistic. Everything was rotting under the floorboards but people were nevertheless pretty happy. In hindsight I wish I'd spent more time reading Star Wars paperbacks than watching Star Trek reruns.
The line I heard I few times when I was younger – not so much these days, I think, but definitely in the days when the first three films were the only canon that counted – was that Star Wars was about good and evil, and that good and evil is pretty basic. No nuance. Joseph Campbell and the Hero of a Thousand Faces – myth and superstition for an irreligious age. I heard it so much that I even tricked myself into believing it.
My opinion changed. I grew older. Rather than sharpening the nuance of my moral calculus years of hard luck simplified it, instilled the lesson that good and evil do exist. I see the proliferation of evil, evil beyond measure – but I also see a profusion of goodness, of hope despite the times. Cruelty is real. Kindness, too. We live with these facts as daily realities. They don't lack nuance.
I think one of the reason the Prequels resonated so strongly with me was that the movies fixed the parts of Star Wars that had never sat well. It added a bunch of new stuff to the simplicity of the first three films. Some of it worked and a few things didn't but overall every new addition to canon complicated, rather than simplified, the core ideas around which Star Wars coalesced. What the Prequels did that moviegoers could never forgive was make the main characters murky and complicated and even unpleasant, rarely defeated in open battle but undone by their own arrogance, ignorance, and corruption.
The newer movies had the temerity to point out that the classic good and evil set-up of the original was . . . not the whole story. Good and evil is what they tell pumped-up farmboys from Tatooine when they send them off to kill their fathers. What Yoda and Obi-Wan don't talk about so much is how they worked closely alongside the Emperor for decades, helped him consolidate power, even saved his life dozens of times. They helped build the Imperial war machine. They have a lot of blood on their hands. Good and evil are real and solid things, and the people who have to navigate between them are small and fragile.
It's complicated. People don't like complicated. I think it adds a great deal to see that the most powerful and righteous heroes in the galaxy were unable to detect evil in their midst. What are the Jedi, after all, but a galaxy-spanning law enforcement agency dedicated to enforcing parliamentary neoliberalism and economic norms? So committed were they to maintaining order as a singular virtue in and of itself that they neglected the menace in plain sight.
The Prequels hit a chord with me when they did because they mirrored the progress of my life, and national politics, through the timeline of their release. It's not a good arc. It's an arc from hope to despair, with very little on the other side but the idea that maybe, one day, things might be better. No promises. Everything is complicated and nothing ever really works out the way it's supposed to. Sometimes that has to be good enough.
The key to understanding Star Wars, and its strange, grudging, but undeniable place of honor within the sci-fi canon, is that it's neither a utopia nor a dystopia. It's a place, like any other place, with lots of people just trying to get by and who are perfectly happy to look the other way so long as the bad things don't happen here. The most "radical" notion proposed by Star Wars and its enduring popularity is that all the ancient splendor and inconceivable technology of a distant galaxy ultimately doesn't change the proposition that humans can be and often are exceedingly cruel to one another for no reason whatsoever.
Here's the thing about movies (and books, and music, and): they're just there. They don't talk back. They don't think. If they speak it's an idiot wind, and we hear the echoes of past lives speaking to us through the television. Star Wars doesn't need defending. The movies exist, are quite famous, many people like them and many other people don't. Trying to influence other peoples' response to art diminishes it. You can't tell someone how to react. Dictating the terms of their interaction is a good way to ensure the interaction is a negative one.
I have no desire to dictate how to feel about Star Wars. Honestly? I don't care if you love or hate Star Wars the movie or Star Wars the franchise. I tell you how I feel so that you can understand me. How I frame my narrative reveals everything about me and nothing about the film itself.
Star Wars is a big idea. Lingering insecurity is unnecessary. Lots of people watch Star Wars to help them deal with pain – it's the kind of world into which anyone can project their own lives, their fears and hopes. It's generic not in terms of facelessness but expansiveness. Fantasy or science-fiction? It's both and neither. Star Wars is just Star Wars. After forty years of cultural dominance it's sui generis, less a story now than a genre unto itself.
Four decades makes a big footprint. Many people are invested in making certain Star Wars is loved and appreciated for the foreseeable future. Star Wars will be around even after the economic order that made possible the creation of these resource-intensive mass entertainments has been swept into the dustbin of history. It will be remembered – and certainly someone in the far future will look back and say, "the twentieth century was pretty shit, but they had rock & roll and Star Wars, and that's not nothing."
Star Trek and Star Wars are such radically different ideas that their eternal "struggle" – if that is indeed the right word – for the hearts and minds of fandom has always confused me. There's room for both. I grew up with both. There's no conflict.
Star Trek was on every night, seven O'clock sharp, right before the movie. There were Trek movies too, and they were pretty good, but they were obviously not the core of the franchise – especially since the movies being made in the 1980s and 90s were texturally different from the late 60s reruns that my family watched every day. Then at a certain point not only were there repeats from the 60s and the occasional new movie, but new Trek on TV, weekly beginning in 1987 and running in some form for almost two decades, until the end of Enterprise in 2005. There hasn't been a new Trek TV show in twelve years, although that is set to change soon.
Star Wars, on the contrary, was never on. The movies ran on TV at the holidays, or you could rent the VHS tapes. There were spin-offs, but they weren't the real deal – Star Wars was Star Wars, spin-offs were never quite as solid. None of the spin-offs amounted to much, and all were quietly discontinued. People loved Star Wars, they never stopped loving it. But (at least back in the day) Star Wars wasn't something you could obsess over for hundreds of hours – it was a finite experience, and the existence of off-brand Star Wars signified only dilution.
For those who loved Trek, the 80s and 90s were a bonanza. The same people who loved Trek usually liked Star Wars as well – and vice-versa, although the core of Star Wars fandom reaches a bit further beyond the constraints of the traditional sci-fi audience. (There are of course exceptions – nerds who grew up on Trek and see Wars as a junk bastardization. I mean, they used to exist. Certainly they still must? I used to hear about them all the time. Maybe, like cannibals, they're always the tribe on the other side of the mountain.) Trek was ascendant throughout the period when Wars was in exile, and there were no grounds for direct conflict.
Star Trek is a big idea too, and has proven remarkably resilient. It's a story about the future of the species with a happy ending, or at least a peaceful denouement. Human evolution is rough and leads inevitably to warfare and barbarism – but at some point the species gets its shit together and makes it to the stars. The parts of us that we send out into the empty universe are the best parts of us – our curiosity, our justice, our commitment to cooperation and useful pragmatism.
There is optimism at the core of Star Trek that places it slightly out-of-step with culture – people are attracted to Starfleet because it's nice to believe that one day we might live in an egalitarian post-scarcity society where a functioning technocracy steers the greater destiny of humanity in the service of common goals and ideals. Put aside the fact that Gene Roddenberry's own ideals were the product of his time, and that a series conceptualized as "Wagon Train to the stars" could never escape the inference of manifest destiny – or at least the 1960s humanistic version, complete with progressive anti-racist politics. People like Star Trek partly because it's nice to believe that one day we'll be able to leave all our shit behind and just go, somewhere else, and maybe be better at being ourselves than we are now.
The original Trek was an adventure story. Subsequent television iterations, however, were procedurals: every week the Enterprise NCC-1701-D under the command of the intrepid Captain Jean-Luc Picard encountered a new challenge – diplomatic, scientific, personal, or occasionally (very occasionally) even military. And in every instance there were rules to follow. The reason why Picard was such a reassuring figure is that he symbolized the ascension of the rational technocrat as a voice of moral authority at just the time when we needed someone like that in our culture. In a calm, comforting, and authoritative tone he assured us that no problem was insurmountable to a rational and compassionate civilization, or so difficult as to demand we abandon our ideals. He'd get along well with Yoda, and that's not entirely a compliment. (Tellingly, the last in-canon appearances by both Picard and Yoda show them as forgotten and diminished figures, wise idealists betrayed by the inevitable pragmatism of time.)
The difference between Star Trek and Star Wars, then, is a difference between who we want to be and who we are. Sometimes it's nice to believe we can be better, but it's also exhausting to realize that we aren't yet. Seeing the most vexing problems – from warp coil malfunctions to interstellar war – fixed by trained and amiable specialists in the space of an hour can be disheartening. Deep Space Nine circumvented the problem by giving the show a stationary setting. Without the option of flying into the wild blue yonder at the end of every episode problems have a tendency to stick around, become sharper and more intractable. It was a darker and less reassuring show because it was premised on a most un-Trek idea: we can't always get in our ships and leave after putting a Band-Aid on insoluble dilemmas.
One of Trek's hallmarks is its deep bench of alien races. The franchise works partially by plucking out different facets of the human condition and extrapolating them onto different alien species as a means of commenting on and critiquing the present. In the original series, broadcast during the height of the Cold War, Klingons were belligerent and obsessed with violence, Vulcans cold and rational. In the Next Generation - a product of the age of Perestroika. The Ferengi symbolized avarice, the Borg automation, bugbears of late-stage capitalism without a serious external threat.
By contrast, aliens in Star Wars are just alien, with alien cultures, values, and virtues that exist outside of any clear allegorical relationship to human culture. What do the Rodians symbolize? Wookiees? Whereas Trek is concerned above all else with finding common ground and peaceful rapprochement with alien species, there's little exploration in Wars. There's diplomacy, but it's not based around cultural understanding, it's based around the same old banal concerns we've had for thousands of years of our own history – trade and warfare, maybe not in that order. There's nothing novel about meeting a new species, because people meet new species all the time. Why, just the other day I ran into an asshole down at the spaceport with three arms, bastard stole my wallet.
(There's not a lot to say about about alien races in Dr. Who. They mostly come in two flavors: genocidal monsters who have to be contained or destroyed, and, er, humans. The two categories are not mutually exclusive. That franchise, which it should be noted predates both Trek and Wars, is far more pessimistic than either of its American cousins.)
I still love Star Trek, but for too long now Trek has been a thing that has happened. For someone who grew up with the Enterprise and retains affection for all its incarnations, it's difficult to see a franchise that was once practically a part of my family fallen into such disrepair. Paramount doesn't seem to know what to do with it. Trying to turn it into a series of action movies was a terrible idea. Returning to TV is a good start. Trek needs the space of a talky medium to be able to discuss ideas and define characters and do the kind of deep-dive world building that the franchise requires. It's not a universe you dip into and back out of for two hours at a time, it's a frame of mind.
Oddly enough, considering which one is supposedly a fantasy story, Star Wars feels more real. It's not a story about how good we could be, or even how awful we have been, but just how we are in the here and now. Flawed people having flawed adventures and fucking up quite a bit on the way to victories that often prove short lived. There's a buy-in with Trek you just don't have with Wars even if the latter might seem more distant from our own lives. The idea that the world might one day get better is far more radical and disorienting than the idea that it might not.
I first saw Rogue One a day after it's release in December of 2016. It was my last trip to the theater dressed as a man. The second time I saw Rogue One was the first week of January, and it was my first trip to the theater dressed as a woman. Also the first time leaving the house by myself dressed as a woman.
Far more than The Force Awakens – overhyped and occasionally pro forma – Rogue One makes good on the promise of a Lucas-less Star Wars. If there must be Star Wars without its creator (and it is apparent that there will be for a good long time to come) then let it be like this. The people who made this movie understand how Star Wars works, what the rules of this universe are, what does and doesn't make sense in the context of a franchise built on the intersection of sci-fi and magic. The movie hangs together as a legitimate part of a canon where The Force Awakens struggles, and ultimately is only able to do so thanks to the charisma of an excellent cast and the sentimental punch of seeing all our old favorites back on the screen. (Rogue One, of course, has Darth Vader, which is pretty cool too.)
After walking out of the theater in December, my first comment was that this is the Star Wars movie I'd waited my entire life to see. Nothing specific about the movie itself. Certainly I never imagined the story of the Death Star, other than what was already on film, from the revelation that it began as a rough blueprint developed by Geonosian separatists at the outset of the Clone Wars through to its maiden voyage in A New Hope. But that there was more to the story I never doubted. Because there's always more to the story in Star Wars.
Star Wars was a surprise success. If you don't know anything about the history of the franchise, it might come as a shock to hear that no one expected the movie even to make back its budget. There weren't even toys when the movie hit screens. It proved to be such a massive success that even though the film – released in May of 1977 – still didn't have toys on the shelves in December of that year, the toy company made a killing selling IOUs for parents to put under the tree. Folks who got those IOUs are in their forties and fifties now, but regardless of how they feel about the current state of the franchise they all remember the undisguised glee of finally receiving the toys in the mail, as much as a year after the film premiered.
And that's the point. The toys weren't secondary to Star Wars, the toys weren't a spin-off – the toys may even be Star Wars at its most primal. The movies? They last a couple hours. But the toys carry a promise of something more. Sure, everyone wants Han Solo or Darth Vader, but to really understand what I'm saying you need to find someone like Hammerhead. Hold him in your hand for a moment. Here's a character who appears onscreen in the original Star Wars for literally a second, says nothing, does nothing, just sits there and looks interesting for less time than it takes for the viewer to register what they're seeing. And yet he rates a 3 3/4" toy, a tiny plastic icon representing a character without even a name.
Now, of course, you can easily learn that Hammerhead's real name is Momaw Nadon, and he is a native of the planet Ithor. But that doesn't matter. Kids in 1978 didn't know that, they just knew that he was one of the coolest looking aliens in the film. Because he didn't do anything onscreen, that meant his story was yet to be told. But you could tell that story, you could tell any story you wanted, because that was Star Wars. You always want the camera to linger on details for a little longer than it does, but it's always gone, moving on to the next bit of the plot – everything else on the margins is left for you to figure out on your own.
After the Expanded Universe officially began in the early 90s, every secondary, tertiary, and quaternary character in the series got a backstory. Some of it was good, some of it was bad, most of it was superfluous but much of it was enjoyable. Momaw Nadon now has an extended backstory, a culture, a home. Maybe it's still canon, maybe it isn't. It doesn't matter. What matters is that thousands of kids in 1978 bought that toy and built entire mythologies just around that one guy, and they were all a thousand times more engaging and interesting than anything a professional writer could ever come up with, because that's how being a kid works.
Rogue One gets that. Star Wars is a place where not only can any passing character in a movie have an interesting backstory, but you know they do. Maybe it hasn't been written yet. Maybe he'll get his own spin-off novel. Doesn't matter. Characters in Star Wars are always introduced as if they have only just concluded the greatest adventure of their lives, and are chilling in the downtime waiting for their next adventure to start. You don't know what Han Solo was doing in Mos Eisley before being approached by Obi-Wan, but you're sure it was interesting. The only character you know for certain has led a boring life is Luke, because he tells us over and over again – but even then, a "boring" life of zooming around a distant planet in a hovercar, dodging Tusken Raiders, and haggling with Jawas for droid parts is still pretty interesting. And Tatooine has the best sunsets.
A good Star Wars story, then, is one that expands on everything you've seen before while always implying the existence of even more awesome stuff just around the corner. Of course the spies and guerillas who stole the Death Star plans have their own backstory. The first time you see Baze and Chirrut onscreen, you want to know everything about those guys. Gay warrior monks in space? Sign me up. Of course, you learn nothing about them in the movie itself. Everything you need to know about them is right there on the screen. One day someone will write stories about Baze and Chirrut – hell, someone is probably doing so right now. And if they're any good – that is, if they're Proper Star Wars – it will only leave you wanting more.
Star Wars exists in its most potent form in the space between what little the movies actually tell you and all the cracks you fill with your own imagination. It's a sense of anticipation, being greedy for more details, more stories set in this endlessly immersive distant world. It's to Lucas' credit that after four decades his universe is sturdy, expansive, and interesting enough to accommodate not just the hundreds of stories told by Lucasfilm (and now Disney), but the hundreds of millions of stories told by fans in their living rooms and backyards and imaginations. It's full to the brim, but there's always room for more.
Star Wars exists in its most potent form in the space between what little the movies actually tell you and all the cracks you fill with your own imagination. It's a sense of anticipation, being greedy for more details, more stories set in this endlessly immersive distant world. It's to Lucas' credit that after four decades his universe is sturdy, expansive, and interesting enough to accommodate not just the hundreds of stories told by Lucasfilm (and now Disney), but the hundreds of millions of stories told by fans in their living rooms and backyards and imaginations. It's full to the brim, but there's always room for more.
I caught up with The Clone Wars TV show in the year leading up to the release of The Force Awakens. At the time of its release it hardly seemed necessary. After the Prequels finished, Star Wars seemed to be entering another period of hibernation – with more ancillary product than existed in the late 80s, certainly, but again no new movies on the horizon. Even if everyone knew that Lucas had always spoke vaguely about the possibility of new films, no one ever seriously imagined it would happen. It was fun to talk about. Maybe someday.
In the back of our minds, most fans knew that Episode III couldn't be the last new Star Wars film. Even if Lucas himself felt no desire to make them, eventually someone would. It was difficult to imagine a scenario where Lucas held the franchise fallow for the rest of his life out of a stubborn desire to maintain the succinctness of his finished six film arc. But Revenge of the Sith, even though technically speaking ending on a "To Be Continued," felt strongly as if it were the end of whatever story Lucas himself wanted to tell. He had come full circle, from telling a story about a kid yearning to get away from his boring desert home, all the way back to that same kid coming home again for the first time. Perhaps there were more Star Wars stories to tell – but those six films were Lucas' story, and he had told it.
Now there are two stories: Lucas' Star Wars, Original and Prequel, one story from middle to end to beginning and back to the middle; and now Disney's Star Wars. The former is over. The latter is just beginning – will continue forward for so long as the franchise makes money. Who knows what it will look like in ten or twenty or thirty years. Eventually the company will move away from strip-mining the original material and create something new. Rogue One is a step in the right direction: filling in a hole from the original films, yes, but doing so by introducing a number of new elements to the series, as well as providing a general blueprint for how future elaborations on the formula might work. Throw a stone in any direction in Star Wars – ten thousand years in the past or the future, you will find whole species and wars and dynasties and heroes and villains spanning an undiscovered galaxy.
The Clone Wars was a singularly important artifact in the evolution of the franchise. The last major contribution to canon created with Lucas' direct input, it points in the direction of how the main series might exist as an entity separate from the dynastic saga of the Skywalkers. It's a fantastic show. Although there are certainly highs and lows throughout the run, when it hits – as with the Pong Krell arc in Season Four, or the Dathomir interludes scattered throughout – it is the best written and most effective Star Wars has ever been. The show's final arc, featuring Yoda on a journey into the heart of the Force itself, sells the single most vexing character of the franchise as a frail and imperfect vessel, surprisingly unprepared for the responsibilities placed on his tiny shoulders – that is, presiding over the destruction of the Order to which he had dedicated much of his 900 years. For its last trick, The Clone Wars made Yoda human and real, a three-dimensional and flawed person with a rich interior life filled with, yes, doubt and fear that he works hard to overcome.
The series is eventually overtaken by paranoia and frustration. The war grinds on and the characters find themselves warped by the demands of constant battle. The Jedi Order finds itself changed, unrecognizable and dangerous, running ragged and cutting corners across the galaxy. Characters we come to know and love eventually fall apart. The invincible heroes for whom we waited our entire lives to see are . . . fallible. Their power limits them. Their rules leave them vulnerable. Sentiment and affection are necessary human functions, and cutting themselves off from love and friendship only weakens them – and has the direct consequence of empowering their worst enemies.
See, I get that.
Being a Jedi sucks, and it sucks because under normal circumstances you're taken from your family as an infant and raised by strangers to regard attachment of any kind as anathema. We even see, at a few points, Jedi taking Force-sensitive children from their families, taking them out of their mothers' arms before they can even speak. It's hard to regard them as heroes after that.
What is it like to grow up believing emotions are dangerous, that repression is healthy, that falling in love and forming deep bonds of friendship are harmful? That's why the council rejects Anakin: he's already too old. He has already learned to love, and that makes him extraordinarily dangerous to an Order founded on the eradication of love as a necessary precaution against allowing passion to override reason and restraint.
Poor Anakin, he never had a chance.
What did people want? Did they want Anakin to be a grand and noble warrior brought low by – what? Pride? Trickery? Some sort of noble impulse betrayed? Anakin's a kid. He's a kid with the power of an atom bomb in his heart, desperate for some kind of education in how to be a man, how to be a husband – hell, just how to be a responsible human being. He gets by because he knows how to fake it just enough to get by, but no more. He's smart as a whip and can pick up the surface tricks of peoples' behaviors just enough to seem like he knows why he's supposed to say jokes at certain times, or express affection in certain ways. He learns how to kill, but he doesn't understand why.
Anakin fails because he's a vulnerable kid who happens to fall under the sway of the most dangerous man in the galaxy, bent on grooming the child into a weapon. It's not glamorous. It's quite sordid and disturbing – but what do you expect from the embodiment of evil? That's not some kind of fake space war conflict, that's real life shit: insecure kids from broken homes are easy prey. Anakin needed a dad, he found a monster. Abused children often become abusers in their turn.
Evil is real, but it isn't simple.
Darth Vader is a mass-murderer and a thug. He's irredeemable by any measure – and, very important, I've never believed that turning against the Emperor at the last minute was any kind of real redemption. He turned the rage and loathing he had directed at himself for two decades as a result of the Emperor's abuse outward, to the one person in the universe who deserved it. He goes out on a high note, but it's not enough to erase anything.
The paradox of the Prequels is that, after decades of actively encouraging fans to tell their own stories, to put their own imaginations into his vehicle, his own answers could never compare to whatever fans had imagined themselves. His version was unbearably sad. It was a story about failure and fear, about good men brought low by hubris and weak men broken by circumstances. Seeing Anakin snap and begin killing children seemingly at the drop of a hat – it's hard to watch. But it doesn't come out of nowhere, or at least it shouldn't for anyone paying attention. The Force isn't a beneficent extension of the Godhead, it's a dangerous power that warps and breaks the people who are unfortunate enough to have been "blessed" with a high Midichlorian count. When Anakin finally cracks in the final act of Episode III, it seems to come as a relief. The power broke him, and he gives in to his absolute worse impulses with the enthusiasm of a recovering alcoholic throwing away ten years of chips to get shitfaced. He fought as long as he could. He wasn't strong enough because the tools his elders gave him were insufficient to the task.
What the Prequels tell us is that good and evil do exist, but they don't exist separate from ourselves. The Force is just power, power that can theoretically be used for either good or evil, but which in practice is best not used at all. This is the core of Jedi teaching, after all: restraint as the means of avoiding the temptation that naturally arises from the exercise of great power. The wisest use of power, the series says, is not to use power. Whatever the ontology of the Force itself may be, it can only ever be a reflection of the imperfect men and women who use it.
Watching The Clone Wars in the year leading up to the release of The Force Awakens rekindled my passion for the franchise – a passion that had never dwindled, but which certainly waxed and waned. It was something vital to which I could grab hold in the worst period of my life, the long months and years of paralyzing depression leading up to the revelation of 30 April 2016 that I am a transgender woman. Star Wars was there for me when I needed it the most. Nothing else made sense.
It may not have pointed the way out of the darkest period of my life, but I could hold onto it, a real and solid object that I could obsess over and with which I could distract myself while literally everything else around me began to crumble. George Lucas saved my life in a way that isn't even slightly hyperbolic, gave me something I could carry from my earliest – literally, my very earliest childhood memories through to the present. I could look forward to new Star Wars even if I knew it would never be the same Star Wars. It was something to look forward to at a time when I had precious little else.
Of course, it's all owned by Disney now, the same Disney that owns Spider-Man and Captain America, Buzz and Woody, Donald and Mickey – all those icons who never leave. If you think about it too much it's quite disgusting that one company owns so much of our shared mental real estate. Our childhoods. Walk around Target today and you'll see Star Wars plastered on everything from corn chips to underwear. These characters are icons, symbols of commerce and Hollywood, pax Americana writ large. But look under the hood and they're also personal reflections of the cares and concerns of the man who made them, who directed their creation and oversaw their existence for three and a half decades. Scrub away the crap and you're left with six profoundly weird movies, movies with unsettling themes and messages, powered by the profound and irresolvable dichotomy between childlike wonder at the endless possibilities of fantasy storytelling and a fatalistic belief in the frailty and corruptibility of human nature.
The Star Wars created and overseen by Lucas was a reflection, for better and for worse, of his own biases and neuroses. It was weird and idiosyncratic in a way that most people overlook because of the series' popularity. I doubt Star Wars will ever be that weird or interesting again. But just because Spider-Man was never as weird after Ditko left doesn't mean that it was never good. Just different.
Life goes on. Oh well.
One more thing:
Star Wars isn't meant to be seen on TV. It's not designed to live on a plastic disc on your shelf.
The way to understand Star Wars is to go opening night. Used to be preview showings were at midnight, but in recent years they've expanded to Thursday evening. Whichever. It has to be first showing.
It has to be first showing because it has to be packed. Every seat filled. I'm agoraphobic. I don't like crowds. But you have to be in a crowd to see Star Wars. You have to be shoulder to shoulder with strangers from all walks of life, herded into tiny plastic chairs and waiting together in darkness.
It's electric. There's nothing else like it. No other movies command the same respect from an audience. You are assembled to witness for the first time something completely new that you will carry for the rest of your life. Instantly indelible.
The lights go down. Silence. You squirm through the previews. You roll your eyes en masse at the candy advertisements. Finally.
For a moment, everything is black. Then the words come up, those same ten words everyone knows by heart. There's another moment, the most exquisite moment of anticipation, a single heartbeat that holds the collective weight of hundreds of moviegoers for an eternity of breathless excitement . . .
Part Nine of an ongoing series
4. Someday We Will All Be Free
5. Trifles, Light As Air
Let's Talk About What We Talk About When We
Talk About Teaching Let's Talk About Love
6. One - The Modern Age
7. Two - Slow Decay
8. Three - A Time To Be So Small
9. The Last Star Wars Essay
5. Trifles, Light As Air
Let's Talk About What We Talk About When We
Talk About Teaching Let's Talk About Love
6. One - The Modern Age
7. Two - Slow Decay
8. Three - A Time To Be So Small
9. The Last Star Wars Essay
Word-of-mouth is the most effective advertising
Please share if you read and enjoy my writing
If you like my writing, please also consider joining my Patreon.
Subscriber-exclusive political essays are posted periodically,
along with episodes of my new podcast Tegan Reads Wookieepedia.
Subscriber-exclusive political essays are posted periodically,
along with episodes of my new podcast Tegan Reads Wookieepedia.
I'm looking for representation!
Literary agents, please contact me at tegan_oneil5000 @ outlook.com