30 Days of Star Wars: Day 21

Episode VII Cast Revealed

(originally written in April, 2014)

The official announcement for the Star Wars Episode VII cast has been revealed.  Some names were no big surprise, other names I've never heard of.  Here is the official picture of the new cast:

J.J. Abrams tried to keep it quiet, but it didn't work.  We all knew that Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, and Mark Hamill were going to come back and play Han Solo, Princess Leia, and Luke Skywalker.  Let's face it; you can't do another Star Wars without these 3 actors in these roles!  Carrie Fisher has clearly lost a lot of weight, and when rumors began floating this week that all 3 had been seen in London, all that was left was the official announcement.

There is an official article here that gives more detail.

I'm thrilled to see familiar faces.  Peter Mayhew is back as Chewbacca.   Anthony Daniels and Kenny Baker will once again portray C3PO and R2-D2.

What I want to know is this:  who in the world are 5 of the 6 actors on the top of this picture?  It seems like Abrams has done what Lucas did before him...cast a bunch of unknowns.  For those of you (like myself) who can't read the names, here are the actors on the top row, in order.

Adam Driver
I've never heard of this man, and even after looking him up, I've never seen anything he's done, so I have no opinion about him.

Andy Serkis
Many of you know him as Gollum from Lord of the Rings.  I can't STAND this character; he's probably the biggest reason I don't watch those movies more often.  I'm also not familiar with any of his other work, so we'll see.

Daisy Ridley
She's an unknown British actress; doesn't even have a Wikipedia file!  Sorry, that's all I have for you!

Domhnall Gleeson
Apparently he was in a couple Harry Potter movies.  Since I've never seen those (close you mouth...you'll let flies in!) I have no idea who this guy is either.

John Boyega
Again, I have nothing for you

Max Von Sydow
This is the most "seasoned" actor of the entire cast, however, I'm still not familiar with his work. People are already speculating that he could be Obi-Wan Kenobi.  I'm sorry, I won't stand for this. Alec Guiness, the original Obi-Wan, is dead.  IF you want to bring him back as a "force ghost", Ewan McGregor could possibly do it.  Overall, I hope this is simply a rumor, because I HATE THAT IDEA!

Oscar Isaac
No clue who this guy is either!

The rumor mill is already spinning again.  This morning, an article about Harrison Ford came out. Read it here.  Considering he has always been very vocal about how he wanted Han Solo killed off at the end of The Empire Strikes Back, and how he would NEVER return to the Star Wars universe, this could be Harrison Ford's Star Wars swan song.  I can't figure out why he's doing this again.  Is it because he's no longer "hot stuff"?  He's over 70, and not considered a leading man in Hollywood anymore.  He definitely doesn't need the money, so why do it?  I'm thrilled he is, but my curiosity is killing me.

I hope that the people involved in this movie don't make the fans wait for plot information.  One of the biggest flaws with the prequels is that no one knew anything about the plot.  We waited, hoped, and prayed, believing we were going to get what we had in the original trilogy.  And when the stories sucked, we didn't have months to already put it past us and prepare for the fact that the stories weren't good.  Throw us information this time.  Give us time to digest, prepare, etc.

I'm still very skeptical about this whole thing.  I'm hopeful, but not holding my breath!

30 Days of Star Wars: Day 20

Favorite Movie From the Original Trilogy

Ahhh, an easy decision.  The best movie from the original trilogy, and really the best of all 6 movies, is....

This is the movie that has it all.  Bigger, faster, more intimidating ships...

Hair-raising chases and escapes....

A wise, old Jedi master who teaches Luke how to use the force...

A fabulous love story...

A betrayal from an old friend...

And the revelation of long-hidden family secrets, combined with an incredible fight sequence!

This movie is also the least altered of them all; probably because it was the best to begin with.  It's important to also note that George Lucas did NOT direct this movie!  Enjoy the following tribute about the greatest of them all!!

California Dreamin'

We just got back from spending 5 days in California.  We hadn't been there since moving to Utah on Thanksgiving day of 2010, so it was great to see family again.  To be perfectly honest, I never had the desire to go back to California.  When we moved, I never looked back!  Many people love California...wonderful for those of you that do.  I'd lived there my entire life before moving.  However, the politics of the state were just getting to be too much for me.  I was beyond thrilled to leave!

It was about a 14 hour drive to California.  When we got to the central valley, near Turlock, where we used to live, Nick and I began noticing several differences between life in Utah and life in California.

In California:
- there are no dead deer on the side of the road; they are ALL OVER THE PLACE in Utah!
- you always know which direction you're going because freeway 99 only goes north and south!
- the MOMENT we crossed the border from Nevada into California, the freeway drivers became completely impatient and rude; it took Nick about 1 hour to revert back to a "Calfornia Driver"!
- the trees in California are BREATHTAKING and there aren't a lot of them in Utah
- I haven't found any orchards or vineyards in Utah
- there is no "spaghetti bowl" in California to confuse you, or multiple freeway changes at the same time (at least in the central valley).  Most of the time in California there is 1 lane onto a freeway, and 1 lane off of a freeway!
- there aren't church houses on every corner.  We actually missed seeing them!

and the biggest difference:

- there are no temples in sight, which was really sad.  After living in the Salt Lake area for 4 years, and being able to see 4 temples throughout the valley, it was weird not seeing any.

We left early last Friday morning and arrived at our first destination Friday evening.  Nick's aunt and uncle were kind enough to let us stay with them.  Saturday they had a luncheon for us, so that family could come and see us.  They have a pool, so most of the day was spent outside.  I was suprised by how chilly it was....in central California....in JUNE!  Apparently we'd just missed the 100+ weather; the water was FREEZING!  Nick and Brandon had a blast though.





 

 



Cannon Ball!!!

 

 





 

 

Sunday we drove up to Monterey to visit Nick's grandpa.  I hadn't been to Monterey since I was a child, so this was a fun stop on our trip.  We were able to spend time not only with his grandpa, but his dad, and one of his brothers'.  We went out to Fisherman's Wharf and Brandon had his first experience with the beach.
 

 

 

 

Turns out Brandon is a HUGE fan of fried calamari.  While waiting for our dinner, he inhaled two entree plates filled with it!  Squid....my child loves squid!  I tried some of it, but it was just too rubbery for me...gross.  But watching him eat it was very entertaining!

 

Four generations of Toale men.  From left to right:  Great-grandpa (Jim Toale), Grandpa (Steve Toale), Daddy (Nick Toale), Uncle (Hans Toale), Son (Brandon Toale)


Monday Great-grandpa took us on a ride along the coast line.  It was breath-taking. 



Monday afternoon Nick's younger sister and her son came to visit.  Great-grandpa took us to the beach at Carmel.  I enjoyed the beach at the wharf on Sunday, but the beach at Carmel was the most amazing thing I've seen in years.  Brandon kept saying, "It's so beautiful!"

 







We left VERY early Tuesday morning...3am!  In the past, Brandon has complained of having an upset stomach during longer road trips, so this time I'd been giving him dramamine.  I forgot to give it to him that morning since we left so early.  We stopped to get breakfast and I gave it to him then.  Unfortunately, it was too late.  Luckily I had a Walmart bag that didn't have any holes in it because Brandon threw up his breakfast.  It sucked, but it proved that Brandon does in fact suffer from car sickness and he wasn't just faking it.  Hopefully he'll grow out of it, but it's good to know for future trips!!

It took FOREVER to get out of Nevada, and when we finally saw this...

we were BEYOND thrilled!  Grateful to be back in Utah, we were greeted with a wonderful rain storm, lightning, and a fabulous rainbow!

The first thing Nick said when we walked through the door was, "It's so good to be back home.  This is home!"

The only burn suffered from the beach was on my left foot!

Overall, it was a great trip!  I'm so glad we had the opportunity to see family, and spend time together.

30 Days of Star Wars: Day 19

A Character You Didn't Like In The Series

Again, from 78 Reasons To Hate Episode 1

General Grievous was one of my biggest problems with Episode III before seeing the movie, and after seeing it that hasn't changed. Pictures of General Grievous led me to believe that he was a hell-demon of pure evil. Two seconds after seeing him onscreen in the theater showed that he was just a big, dumb idiot.

Nearly any possible potential fear of Grievous is eliminated as soon as he doubles over to begin hacking and wheezing. It is already relatively difficult to be scared of a robot with emphysema, but any remaining potential for fear is removed when he begins talking.

To further weaken Grievous's character, he is a tremendous coward: a scheming, double-crossing bad guy who would be better suited as the nemesis of a cartoon rabbit than the Jedi order. It is also worthy of noting how bizarre it is that Grievous coughs as much as he does, considering he doesn't appear to have any lungs.

(my thoughts)

People have argued that Grievous has this incredible backstory that explains the coughing, and why he has an actual heart.  That's wonderful. However, when I sit in the theatre to watch the movie for the first time, I DON'T HAVE THAT KNOWLEDGE UNLESS IT'S GIVEN TO ME! Since this was never explained in Revenge of The Sith, the audience is left wondering what is wrong with this character, and why any of the Jedi even care about his existence since he's not scary at all.

30 Days of Star Wars: Day 18

Favorite Movie From The Prequel Trilogy

This movie is BY FAR the best of the prequel movies.  Finally, raw, BELIEVABLE emotion was on the screen.  Like its predecessor's, I have many issues with this movie too; just not as many as the two that came before this one.

Below is a YouTube video that hits on pretty much all the things I do and don't like about this movie.