Favorite Female Characters

Although I missed International Women's Day, I wanted to put together a list of my favorite female characters with something I like about each. Female characters don't have to just be "strong" (though that is cool too), but it's great when they have unique personalities as normal people and have their own role in the story apart from a leading or supporting male character (though this does not make their relationship bad or unimportant!). All of these characters are really great and I love how they are portrayed complexly - they are already cool and strong but have moments of weakness that show their humanity and ability to learn and grow. There are so many I want to mention and I'm probably forgetting some ladies I love, but here are my top choices at the moment:

Ellie Miller

Broadchurch

A detective sergeant and a mother, she's thrown into a situation she's not prepared to deal with but her compassion continually shines through.

Rose, Martha, Donna, Sarah Jane, and others

Doctor Who

Rose always puts others first and looks out for people many don't notice. Martha balances what everyone wants from her and stands up for herself. Donna sees the Doctor as he is and encourages people to be their best, even with her own insecurities. Sarah Jane is like another Doctor and adopts *all* the kids.

source

Win and Joan Thursday

Endeavour

It's the 60s - Win, the mother of the Thursday family stays home and Joan, her daughter, has a job, and both are portrayed as good and important. Joan is funny and a bit adventurous and Win supports her family through thick and thin. (Dorothea Frazil is cool too)

Cully and Joyce Barnaby and Gail Stephens

Midsomer Murders

Daughter and wife of the lead detective, Cully and Joyce both have an interest in the arts (whether as a career or a hobby). Cully knows what she wants and works toward it, and Joyce likes to try new things and be involved in the community. Gail Stephens is a police officer and while junior to Barnaby and Jones, she has a different set of skills to contribute to investigations.

Molly Hooper

Sherlock

Molly has such a great character arc as she starts out as an awkward, love-sick, mouse and establishes herself and gets the respect she deserves. But it's the two sides of her existing simultaneously that make her so relatable. Also shout out to some other awesome women of Sherlock - Mrs. Hudson, Mary Morstan, Sally Donovan, Anthea, Janine, and Sarah.

source

 Eowyn

 The Lord of the Rings

She's a leader and sacrifices what she wants for the good of others, not to mention brave and resourceful and all-around awesome. Shout out to the many other women of Middle-Earth as well.

Hermione Granger

Harry Potter

Her hard work and patient study make her the "brightest witch of her age," and she is strong and flawed and beautiful and loyal and keeps her friends together.

Maya Fey

Ace Attorney

How to summarize the awesomeness of Maya... She seems so real in that she has multiple sides to herself and surprises you as you get to know her. She's quirky and spunky most of the time but doubts her abilities and her worth. Throughout the series she works through personal tragedies while doing anything she can to help her friends. Franziska is also an amazing character I could go on about.

This is getting long so to say a few more:

 Lizzie, Jane, and Lydia Bennet from The Lizzie Bennet Diaries

Ahsoka, Padme, Leia, Siri, Bant, and many others from Star Wars

Carolyn Knapp-Shappey from Cabin Pressure

Emma Swan and others from Once Upon a Time

Fanny Price from Mansfield Park

Several of my favorite characters are guys, but these women are particularly special. I find many of them are realistic, relatable, and a great part of their story. For those in current series, hopefully this will continue! Who are your favorite female characters?

Closet Cosplay Challege - Results

 
First of all, you guys rock. Thanks so much to everyone who sent challenges! For a couple of these I borrowed something from a family member, made little things out of construction paper, or had actually already made something for a character, but otherwise this is stuff out of my closet. And sorry in advance for the quality of the pictures! I alternated between an iPod and digital camera, both with ups and downs.

Speaking of things I already made for characters - Shaak Ti suggested Elizabeth Swan, who I actually dressed as for Halloween years ago, so I had something okay for this:

accidental cosplaying in front of picture of actual character (right middle)

Shena had a few challenges- first an undercover Jedi (thought it was cool how this was open to interpretation, which I may have had a bit too much fun with) (I am wearing my Jedi tunic, it's just hard to see!):

cover

deep cover

deep deep cover

Sherlock Holmes:

I take the precaution of a good coat and a short friend

Rose Tyler (I went with her outfit from The End of the World, since I already made a shirt to look like hers):

we're in the year 5 billion! but first let me take a selfie.

Mary Margaret:

she makes me want to cut my hair and completely change my style

And Eowyn (was able to sort of pull off her costume from Dunharrow):

might be my new favorite costume of hers

Faith suggested two disney princess - Belle (who I'd love to cosplay for real now):

far off places, daring sword fights, magic spells, a prince in disguise...

And Cinderella:

learned my face doesn't like to cooperate for princesses so better to close eyes...

Zenta said Professor Layton (thank you bro for the shirt. and jacket. and hat.):

every puzzle has an answer

And Miles Edgeworth:

now then, if the defense is quite done embarrassing itself...

And last but not least Misty who, after I specifically said Smaug would be tricky, suggested I do said dragon. But just for you, my dear friend:

Benedict doing the motion capture for Smaug!

Mwahahaha! (I only laugh because I fail at doing a scary face)

And that's it! Again, thanks so much for the challenges, this was a ton of fun to do! Have a great week, keep calm, and cosplay motion capture versions of characters that are too hard.

Stormtrooper post #1

I don't know why we have to do this. No one oversees the posts, no one really cares about this division, no one really reads the blogs once we take them over, and it's just more work for us.

So...

I'm so bored.

What time is it when an AT-AT steps on your wrist chronometer?
Time to get a new wrist chronometer.

Why should you never tell jokes on the Millennium Falcon?
The ship might crack up.

Why is a droid mechanic never lonely?
Because he's always making new friends.

You guys know any jokes?

I hit my head on a doorway this morning and it still hurts. Blast these helmets and lack of peripheral vision.

Hey look, I took a selfie:

These filters are awesome.

This job may be boring but at least there's good coffee in the break room. Out of cookies though. You all like to joke about "Dark Side" cookies, but the Empire does provide some really tasty treats.

Uh, what was that noise? Something just fell behind me.

Eh, it's probably just a drill.

Imperial regulations state that this post must be at least 200 words long so I'm just going to write a little longer so I can reach the word count that this post must be as dictated by Imperial regulations that I must follow so I can keep my job. You know, in addition to keeping the galaxy in order.

Okay reached 200+ words! Goodbye to all the people that probably aren't reading this anyway.

-TK482

THIS BLOG IS NOW UNDER THE CONTROL OF THE GALACTIC EMPIRE

This blog has been confiscated by the Galactic Empire for failing to abide by multiple Imperial cyber laws. 

Imperial Edict OB-1KN3 - propaganda statements regarding the Jedi Order, a cult which attempted to overthrow the government and destroy peace by gaining full power.
Instances of this offense:
"one thing I love [...] is the Jedi Order"
"I've been fascinated by their culture and teachings, and most of my favorite characters are Jedi.  I love reading about them, lightsaber techniques, and the Jedi Way."
"I kind of like the Jedi."

Imperial Edict EP-2C4U - impersonation of an Imperial official.
Instances of this offense:
"Palpatine: Did you say Order 66?  *evil cackle*" 

Imperial Edict RA-1GD0 - propaganda statements regarding rebellion against the Galactic Empire.
Instances of this offense:
"Also in the Rebel Legion area. It's so cool..."
"Luke is so great"

Imperial Edict TS-7VI2 - defamation of high ranking Imperial officers.
Instances of this offense:
"So I'm definitely not crazy about [Panaka]"
"[Tarkin's] the guy I love to hate."
"Vader appears regretful of his past choices"
"Darth Vader's ship gets knocked away by Han"
"Palpatine is lying - he's been lying for a long time."
"[Palpatine's] not trying to make the galaxy a better place"
"Palpatine's charade of righteousness"
"I thought Vader had some vacuum cleaner in his helmet" 

His Excellency Emperor Palpatine gave these remarks regarding the New Imperial Cyber Protection Act:
The cyber world is one of our greatest sources of information, but so often this information is inaccurate, misleading, or outright lies. Our young people are significantly affected by this, and we owe it to future generations to give them an educational resource that is up-to-date, accurate, and beneficial to their lives as faithful citizens of the First Galactic Empire. Let us give them the tools they need to develop their world view in a safe environment, free from bias and falsehood.

Because the author of "In Western Lands" failed to uphold these principles, this blog will now be under control of the Galactic Empire. TK482 has been assigned to the maintenance of this blog and posting of Imperial-approved content so that the damage the previous owner caused may be reversed and readers may continue to be entertained.

-TK482

---

UPDATE: I've got my blog back! Apparently there are some good galactic lawyers out there. Here's a screen shot of the blog for the memories:

-Arda

Star Wars: Celebration VI - My Experience

So I said a while ago that my brother and I were going to Star Wars: Celebration VI! We went on Friday and Saturday and it was really really cool.

Since it seemed weird to me that my last several posts have just been me talking, I got Captain Rex to recap part of it for me! Take it away, Rex.

Captain Rex: Thank you sir. Once Arda and her brother got in the convention center and picked up their badges, they headed right up to the exhibition hall, where the 501st Legion was holding their Troop-Athlon. It's a competition we sometimes have amongst us Clones, and these Stormtroopers I keep hearing about (there were a few other troopers, Bounty Hunters, and even a Jawa involved as well).

Anyway, each team has to complete various challenges while in full armor. Now I don't mean to complain, but this stuff we got has its problems - lack of peripheral vision and maneuverability just a couple. Actually, they had this saying there, something like "Can't see, can't sit, can't shoot." Now again, I'm grateful to the Republic for the armor we have, and it has improved, but...well, I suppose that saying they have is pretty accurate. You get used to it though, and once you go through all the training on Kamino you tend to forget about the shortcomings a lot of the time. Until one of your brothers walks straight into a door, but that doesn't happen too often.

I'm getting off track - a few of the challenges were the Ewok toss (one team member tossing stuffed Ewoks to another), using a Death Star bowling ball (keep seeing this Death Star around - wonder what it is) to knock over pins with Representative Binks drawn on them (I must admit I got a chuckle out of that. Arda'll be mad if she found out though), and riding a segway through a short course. The crowd seemed to enjoy it, and I'm sure some of these guys will be hearing their fellow trooper's opinions on how they did in the barracks.

The course where both the Troop-Athlon and Droid Races took place.

Thanks Rex! (Heh, I think he had more fun than he's letting on.) Next, a bunch of the girls from The Lakehouse Forums met up - it was so cool to meet online friends, and somewhat surreal as well! We hung out for a while, then went to a special Her Universe cupcake party we had been invited to. There were some TCW cast members there which was really cool - I was too shy to say much, but I was with my friends as they talked to Dee Bradley Baker and Matt Lanter, and I saw Dave Filoni (should have tried to talk to him - he's so cool!) and Tom Kane (also saw Ashley's husband David Eckstein, but didn't realize it until later). Then toward the end, we all got to talk to Ashley herself! I've heard people say she's really good at remembering people, but I was surprised that she recognize me from our brief meeting two years ago at the last Celebration! Her support of TLF has been amazing, and it was so nice of her to spend time with us. After the party most of the TLF girls went to wait in line for the Clone Wars premiere. I waited with them but ducked out to join my brother, who had gone to a panel called the Obscure Character Face-Off, before the show started, and after a bit of hanging around the exhibit hall, called we it a day.

On Saturday we didn't go to too many events, but it was still fun. The first part of the day I spent doing photo shoots with the TLF girls. There were a bunch of neat props in the exhibit hall that we posed with - a random Stormtrooper joined us for a couple pictures as well.

My brother and I spent the rest of the day in the exhibit hall, 501st room, droid builder's room, and just looking around, me taking random pictures once in a while. We did get to see some TLF friends one more time before saying goodbye, which was nice. Before we left, we did a bit of shopping - he got a volume of Star Wars Tales and I bought a Her Universe shirt and a couple Jedi Apprentice books (only $5 for two of them!). There were also these Galactic passports that you could take to the different publisher booths and get them stamped - that was pretty cool. Then we basically wandered around a bit before heading out.

Meeting and hanging out with my online friends was definitely the highlight of my weekend. It was really neat to see people I knew from online, and that includes others like costumers and SW celebs I had seen pictures of. When I went to Celebration V, I didn't know or know of too many SW fans so now it was really cool to have friends there and recognize people from the internet. And like last time, there were a bunch of great costumes and it was so fun to watch everyone! I kind of wish we could have seen more panels, but it was still an awesome weekend and I'm so glad we were able to go.

And now for pictures! Here are some others I took:

There was a small collection of items from Rancho Obi-Wan, including the Great Holocron! My Jedi-obsessed self was really excited to see this - I didn't even know a real version existed!

As I was taking a couple pictures of this mannequin, I start to hear heavy breathing behind me. Really heavy breathing. So I turn around and there's a live Vader standing over me saying, "She's taking pictures of a mannequin, for crying out loud!" Whoops, didn't see you there, my lord...

Just cool. I love Star Wars fans.

In the droid builder's room - R2D2 and Leia's message!

This was in the Rebel Legion area. I want one of these!

Also in the Rebel Legion area. It's so cool how you can imagine you're in the galaxy far, far away there, like this seemed like it could be from the rebel base on Hoth.

Bail Organa! I was so excited to see him - his costume was awesome and he really looked the part too. He said to vote for him in November. Guess who my write-in candidate for Senator is...

One more from the Rebel Legion area - should have leaned on this and tried to sell some death sticks.

Yes, this was in the exhibit hall, and yes, I had to take a picture of it. What an awesome Gandalf mold!

One last shot from the doors of the convention center with a bunch of Sith taking pictures together. Seeing this makes me really miss this place.

Oh yes! And I promised to show you the Jedi costume I was making! I give you, the headless Jedi-man!...girl...person...(ok just look at it):

I wore it Saturday of the convention. It still needs some work (I finished the sewing only a night or two before the con!) but I'm happy with how it turned out and it was fun to wear.

So there is my somewhat long, hopefully entertaining report of Star Wars: Celebration VI! Thank you all for reading, and may the Lord and the Force be with you!

Getting Ready

Thanks for all the votes on my poll! Your answers are really helpful, and I'm flattered that so many choose "updates on me" for a post topic, so that's what this is about! Though I hope I'm not too boring for you all...

Lately I've been getting ready for school and Star Wars Celebration VI, both of which are coming up soon!

This semester, I'm taking Intermediate Algebra, Composition II (focusing on literature I think), Spanish II, and a computer course (covering Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access, etc). I think Comp might be kind of cool, because although it will probably have a lot of reading, some of the stories might be cool. The syllabus mentioned "The Gift of the Magi," a short story I read for high school lit a year or two ago and enjoyed, so I'll have that to look forward to. Hopefully math won't be too hard (my brother said intermediate algebra is easy), and I'm not sure what the others will be like.

As a (now former) homschooler, it will be my first time being in a classroom part of the time, which I am both nervous and excited about. As long as I can get used to the new environment I think this semester will go well. Let's hope!

One thing I did in order to prepare for school is get my driver's license! It's really weird to think I can just randomly drive myself somewhere now. I got it on Wednesday and haven't been driving alone yet, but I may go out briefly tomorrow morning. Somewhere I can get to easily. Not ready for any big unfamiliar roads...

For Celebration VI, I've been working on a new Jedi costume. Two years ago for CV, I pieced (literally pieced) a costume together from leftover fabric and by guessing without a pattern. It was fun to wear, but had a lot of room for improvement. For this one I got adequate fabric and a real pattern and so far it's looking great! I have a small list of things left to do on it, mostly adding velcro and hemming (and hawing), and I'm pretty excited about it!

Today I finished watching Fruits Basket, an anime about a young girl who is taken in by a cursed family - whenever they are hugged by someone of the opposite gender, they turn into an animal of the zodiac. Some online friends liked it a lot which is how I knew about it. It was really fun but had deeper themes as well. Now I must get the manga from the library!

Yep, so life is kind of moving forward right now. I'll try to check back in a couple weeks from now once Celebration and the beginning of school are behind me - if school doesn't eat me first! Hope you all have an awesome weekend and may the Lord be with you!

Gollum on The Clone Wars: Brothers

THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS. 
Gollum is a guide of the lands north and west of Mordor and an informant for multiple powers in Middle-Earth.  He is a fishing enthusiast and a skilled waterman, this feat being recognized by King Elessar himself.  When he is not fishing or searching for his precious, Gollum enjoys inventing riddles.

You didn't think we watched The Clone Wars, did you, precious?  Yes, yes, we watch it.  The wizard, the one who interrogates poor Sméagol [Gandalf], we heard that in some video games he is voiced by Tom Kane, who plays Yoda, yes?

What?  Noooo, don't hurt poor Sméagol for breaking the...hm?  The "fourth wall"?  What's the "fourth wall," eh?

The short blogger wanted us to write this before because the episode reminded her of us, precious.  Mmm, it reminds her very much of us.  But we are getting ahead of ourselves.

Sméagol had a nice time watching this episode.  It wasn't our favourite, but we likes it much better than watching the fat hobbit in our movies.

This episode finally has Darth Maul in it.  The short blogger doesn't understand why he is not dead.  Sméagol understands.  Where we come from, many come back to life, yes they do, precious.  Like Wraiths, and the Eye, and the wizard, yes, they all came back once.  But they have magic.  Does Darth Maul have magic, precious?  We doesn't know.  It could have come back with dark magic, or maybe it just doesn't need it's bottom half.

For so many long years, Darth Maul was living in this strange place.  We lived in a cave for a very long time too.  Much longer than it did.  But we are not as crazy, are we, precious?  We wonders what made it insane.  Hate?  Yes, yes, that may be.  It hates the Jedi who took Darth Maul's legs and its position.  Just like we hates Baggins.  He stole our precious!  We hates it!  Hates it!  Forever!  AHHHHH!

Mm, yes, we will go on.

We thought the episode would be good joined with the next one, mmm, or having more story included.  Many of the scenes added something, yes, but didn't amount to much.  But Sméagol is patient and still enjoys it.

Sméagol likes the snake.  It is funny.  We would like someone to bring us things to eat like it does.  Nice rabbits and crunchable birdses!  We are tired of orcses.  And we would like a friend.  Yes, Sméagol would like a friend.

The fat hobbit doesn't count.

That is all we have to say.  We liked the episode, but not as much as the Mon Calamari arc.  Lots of fishess in those, yes precious!  May the precioussss be with you!

The Twelve Days of Christmas - Day 11

Two favorite Christmas recipes...

These are (imperfect) snowman top hats.  Mom and I saw them in a store once and thought they looked really cool, so we tried to make our own allergen-free version (three out of the four of us have food allergies).  They're kind of tricky to make, but so, so worth it.

They are made with chocolate, large marshmallows, and Oreos/sandwich cookies.  To make them, first melt chocolate chips (we used a make-shift double boiler).  The way I assembled them today was I dipped a marshmallow in chocolate, put it chocolate side down on the Oreo, spooned more chocolate on the top, and used a toothpick to spread the chocolate on the sides of the marshmallow and Oreo until getting something resembling a top hat!

I don't really have a second recipe, but I wanted to share a couple pictures of the cookies we decorated yesterday!  The recipe we use is a basic cutout cookie recipe from my aunt with powdered sugar frosting.

Here is a platter with cookies decorated by my mom, brother and myself...

And a few I did just for fun.  First is Piglet, then a japor snippet from Star Wars, Bilbo Baggins (as best as I could do by memory), Phoenix Wright, and Professor Layton (a snowman version, at least).  Piglet has frosting and the others were drawn with food coloring markers

Definitely had a lot of fun creating these Christmas treats and doing it with my mom and brother.  It has also been fun to eat a couple!

'Tis the night before Christmas, our goodnights have been said.  We're going to Mass in the morning, so I better go to bed!  May the Lord be with you this Christmas night!

The Twelve Days of Christmas - Day 7

Six favorite Christmas stories...

Hmm...not sure if I can come up with six.

1. THE Christmas story
2. The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry.
3. The Twelve Bugs of Christmas (it's a pop-up book)
4. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
5. Does it count that one of the cases in Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney takes place on Christmas?
6. The Star Wars Christmas story, one of the funniest Star Wars or Christmas videos:

Be sure to watch through the credits!  Have a great day and may the Lord be with you!

Padmé on "Shadow Warrior"

(source)

THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS.
Padmé Amidala is a senator for Naboo in the Galactic Senate.  When she was fourteen she was elected queen and led her people through the Naboo Crisis.  She has been on many missions of diplomacy for the Republic in the Clone Wars and is respected as a great supporter of democracy.

I would have written this sooner but lately I have been tied up in special sessions of Congress.  We are considering a motion to defer more powers to the Chancellor.  However, I was able to snag some time this weekend to view the latest episode.  As is clear, this one was more personal for me than the previous episodes of season four.  There are many things that could be said on the episode, but here are a few things I would like to mention.

While the Mon Calamari arc portrayed Jar Jar and the Gungans as warriors, this showed a bit more of the light side of their nature.  I must admit that I was laughing a bit as Jar Jar, disguised as Boss Lyonie, tried to keep Grievous from finding out what was going on--and from killing him.  Perhaps more seriousness would have been called for in the situation, but Jar Jar must have been very frightened.

This was my first time seeing how the Gungan army managed to capture Grievous.  To be honest, I found it slightly unrealistic that they were be able to overcome him, his two lightsabers, and advanced training.  It seems we have all underestimated the Gungans.  I am thankful to have them not only as allies, but as friends.

Their capture was not without cost.  During the struggle, Grievous killed General Tarpals.  He was instrumental in the Battle of Naboo and his loss was a great one.  After a few days of recovery, we held a traditional Gungan funeral for him, honoring his sacrifice for Naboo and the Republic, and mourning him as our friend.

As I'm sure you can imagine, the choice between holding Grievous or exchanging him for Master Skywalker broke my heart.  In war, we are too often forced to choose between duty and personal feelings.  If the Republic had Grievous in custody, we might have been able to end the war.  But in the end, Jar Jar and Boss Lyonie convinced me.  They were right--I don't think I could have ever forgiven if Anakin died because of me.

Something that I found unsettling as I watched the episode were the words the Sith spoke to Count Dooku.  It seemed he knew that in this case I would put duty aside.  How?  What does he know about me?

On a lighter note, for all of you wondering where Boss Nass was, do not worry--he is alive and in good health.  He attended General Tarpals' funeral and afterward had some time to catch up with Anakin and me.  I will always be grateful for his help in defeating the Trade Federation all those years ago.

I suppose that's all for now.  Wish us luck in the Senate--I pray that we will be able to come to a resolution on the additional powers within the next couple of days.  Hopefully then I will be able to watch Friday's episode and see how C3P0 and R2D2 fared on their relief mission.  May the Force be with you all!

Jar Jar Binks on "Prisoners"

(source)

THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS.
Jar Jar Binks represents his people, the Gungans, in the Galactic Senate.  He was a general and hero in the Invasion of Naboo and is bravely serving the Republic in our war through negotiation.  He lives in Otoh Gunga, Naboo.

Hello!  Mesa called Jar Jar Binks!  Mesa doing dis guest post thingy for Arda, who doesn't weally have anything to say on de episode.

[Hey!  I've got stuff to say!  Like...um...Kit Fisto had a good line.  Well...he stole it from Indiana Jones.]

About de eels!  Oh nosa!  Dos eels were bad!  Wesa starting to get berry scared in dare.  Padme almost drowning!  Luckily mesa got a few tricks up mesa sleeve...

[Yeah, that was cool and all, and great that you saved Padme, but...it was a little gross.]

Yosa seen nothin.  Yosa ever been to da core?

[Of Naboo?  I guess technically not...]

Dey got muy slimy fishes down dare.  Yosa no wantin to go dare.

[I'll keep that in mind.]

Good!  Weell, lots of tings did happen in de episode!  Like Lee-Char uniting da people against da Separatists!

[That was pretty brave.  Turning against the Separatists was a big risk for the Quarren; they knew how ruthless Dooku and Tamson were.  And Lee-Char asking them to do that--]

Exactly!  And he let himself be taken just so he talk to...ah...

[Let me open Wookieepedia...Nossor Ri!]

Dat's it!  And den Captain Ackbar could get the armies together!

[IT'S A TRAP!]

What yousa saying?

[Never mind, that hasn't happened yet.]

Anyways, day all got together at de execution--

[The bad guys should really learn that these public executions are perfect opportunities for escape.  And they should read the Evil Overlord List.]

And dey blasting de Separatists aways!

[Yay!...*has nothing to say*]

Yosa no liken de episode?

[No, I liked it fine, just...I like Lee-Char, but prefer the ones that are more Jedi-centered, the ones I'm more emotionally invested in.  With Anakin and Obi-Wan and Ahsoka.]

Dey weally couldn't do much here.  Dis is really Lee-Char's battle.

[Yeah...it was really more about him gaining confidence and growing into his role as king of Mon Calamari.  That was pretty nice.]

Dis a good message for all da younglings!  Believe is youse self, don't be giving up, and be willing to give yoself up for youse people!

[Aww, that was nice Jar Jar.  Looks like you might be doing dat - I mean that - in the next episode.]

Well, mesa does have a role in it.  And Ani dos too!  But he's looking hurt.

[Yeah, poor guy never gets a break does he?]

Noo...poor Ani!  Mesa hate to see him get zapped by dos eels.  And next week he's getting zapped again!

[Yep...well, any closing thoughts?]

Mesa just wanting to tank all of yousa for reading mesa review.  Mesa ask for all of yours support during dis galactic war.  In de Senate, we are working muy hard to protect de Republic and end de war.  But Padme never keeps around good snacks.  So if dare is anyone who wants to donate, Arda will be setting up de donations box on de side bar so yousa can just--

[Jar Jar!]

But--but mesa doing nothing!

Happy Hobbit Day!

I'm know I'm posting this late, but it's Bilbo and Frodo's birthday!

Doesn't "Hobbit Day" just sound like a delightful holiday?

I've done little things for it in the past, but it would be so fun to have a real party some year.  We could have lots of food, music, and of course - do the Hobbit chicken dance.

Oh!  And not only is it Bilbo and Frodo's birthday...

It's Ashley Eckstein's birthday!

(from Wikipedia.org)

Can this day get any awesomer?  Ashley has been such an inspiration to many of us.  I could write a whole post on how great she is and how she has affected my life.

Speaking of which, I would like to thank all of you for the way you've affected my life.  I really appreciate you all taking the time to read and comment on my blog.  I have loved getting all of your comments, and the ones on my TCW review were very touching.  You are all really great people and I love you.

And in reply to said comments, I am planning on writing arranging for more reviews of The Clone Wars from our friends in the GFFA (galaxy far far away)!  Who will depend on who has the most to say on each episode.  I would love to write for ask Ahsoka, and will try to do her soon.  For all of you watching "Prisoners" tomorrow night, I hope you have fun!

But for now, have a blast!

LotR pics from Council of Elrond.