Category Archives: Column

Hope

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Dear Owen, 

Welcome to the world, buddy. 

At some point a few years down the line, you’re probably going to read this blog post. By then you’ll probably have gotten tired of listening to mom and dad talk into microphones in the office. You’ll probably be wondering why we keep podcasting week after week, month after month, year after year. The truth is, this silly little podcast is a big reason you’re here today. 

Your mom and I began recording together almost eight years ago to the day I sat down to write this. At that point, we were friends living on opposite sides of the country. Sometimes, though, friendship can become more when you get to know someone more and spend more time with them. We wound up finding love where neither of us expected it in this silly little podcast. Hopefully you can indulge us, even when we sound like absolute dorks. 

By the time you can read this, you’ll no doubt be aware that Star Wars is something that’s important to your parents and you’ve learned that because of those silly podcasts we record. Maybe it’s something you love too! But hey, you’re your own person with your own interests and joys. I hope that you can find something that brings you as much fun and meaning that Star Wars has for us. And yeah, we’ve definitely found some meaning in Star Wars over the years. 

I’m generally someone that tries not to turn blockbuster media into some sort of religious experience, but there are some lessons in these silly space wizard films that are important and some I think will help you down the line. In Star Wars, there’s a recurring theme that runs throughout all the movies, television shows, books, and comics: hope. 

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On The Continued Importance of Doctor Aphra

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Three years ago, I sat down to write a piece titled “On the Importance of Dr. Aphra.” At the time, we were just barely two months past Aphra surviving the end of Kieron Gillen and Salvador Larroca’s Darth Vader series. That in itself had been enough of a surprise but then, when Marvel gave Aphra her own ongoing series? I was genuinely shocked and in the best way possible. Not only was she the first female character to get a Star Wars ongoing title but she was also one of the first characters unaffiliated with the films or TV shows to headline her own comic or book. And now that comic book has come to an end with the publication of yesterday’s Doctor Aphra #40, a more than respectable run especially in this modern comic book world.

I didn’t think the book would make it past issue #12. I’ve never been happier to be wrong. Continue reading →

The Choice is Yours If You’re Willing to Choose

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Let’s go ahead and say this right off the bat: ‘Cool motive, still murder’ is the world’s biggest truth. I am not in any way, shape, or form excusing the truly horrible actions of some of my favorite characters. Bad things are still and always will be bad. However, how people find themselves on a darker path and what they choose to do about it is inherently fascinating and worth some further musings. This? Would be that musing.

For a long time now, I’ve thought a lot about the paths and lives of some of my favorite male characters in Star Wars. Specifically, I’ve been thinking about Del Meeko, Kylo Ren, and Armitage Hux who have all, at one point or another, found themselves on the bad guy side in a galaxy far, far away. One made a choice to be better, one fell to the dark side, and one never knew any other way in life. Their paths are uniquely their own, informed by their experiences, the worlds they were born into, and their choices. Continue reading →

Tosche Station Brewhouse – Sinjir’s Rath IPA Part II: Brewing and Tasting

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Last time in our Tosche Station Brewhouse post series, we talked about crafting the Sinjir’s Rath IPA. This time around, we’re going to be brewing this sucker!

As a reminder, I use Picobrew’s rather innovative Pico Model C countertop homebrew system. This device is an internet-connected smart appliance that’s not much bigger than your average toaster oven, so it’ll be right at home in your kitchen. So often when people think about homebrewing, the thought of garage filling burners, containers, and meticulous monitoring requirements. Picobrew miniaturizes, simplifies, and automates the whole process to the point where a homebrew idiot and amateur like me is able to brew my own delicious beer. Before diving into the brewing process for the Sinjir’s Rath IPA, let’s talk about what actually comes in the box when you buy a Picobrew Model C. To the jump!

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Tosche Station Brewhouse – Sinjir’s Rath IPA Part I: Grains and Hops

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Those of you who have listened to TSR, followed me on Twitter, or know me to any personal degree are aware that I am a big fan of craft beer. Yes, admittedly, I’m a Pacific Northwest native and as comes with the territory, I am a craft beer snob. Such a snob that a few weeks ago, I purchased Picobrew’s ingenious Pico Model C homebrew system.

Picobrew takes the guesswork, monitoring, and space requirements out of the homebrew beer process and replaces it with a rather sleek looking counter top appliance that fits in perfectly with the other gear you’ve got in your kitchen. As an added bonus, it’s also a rather capable sous vide cooker (stay tuned for future columns putting a Star Wars geek twist on cooking recipes). In other words, Picobrew’s Model C system is the perfect homebrew device for someone like me that wants to make their own beer, but doesn’t have the space, time, and monitoring requirements to homebrew in more traditional ways. But why are we here talking about kitchen appliances?

Welcome to the Tosche Station Brew House, a new ongoing blog series (with HEAVY inspiration taken from one of my favorite video series in Acquisitions Intoxicated) and soon to be podcast where we’re going to be taking a Star Wars character, event, or thing, and crafting a beer around them. Those of you who own a Picobrew system will be able to plug the recipes created into the Freestyle PicoPak maker or blank PikoPak (more on that in a moment) to make these beers yourself in the comfort of your own home. Up first, we’re cooking up a beer all about the snarkiest gun in the Galaxy Far, Far Away: Sinjir Rath Velus. To the jump!

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Parenting Lessons from a Galaxy Far, Far Away

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How Han Solo’s struggles in Last Shot hit me right in the mom feels.

The first I saw of Daniel José Older’s Last Shot was an excerpt in the Del Rey Sampler I was given at Emerald City Comic Con. In the excerpt, which takes place early in the book, Han Solo is awakened miserably early in the morning after having fallen asleep on the couch with his two year-old, sleep regressing son. The groggy former General stumbles toward the kitchen in search of a much-needed jolt of caffeine and immediately steps on a toy (clearly a GFFA analog to a certain brick-based building system known widely in Star Wars circles). I was on the hook with that excerpt and couldn’t wait to read the rest.

Because from that moment, Han Solo was every parent I have ever known. He was certainly me. Fumbling in the dark, too tired to think, trying his best just to put one foot in front of the other and make it from moment to moment: Han Solo was living my experience as the parent of a small child. Continue reading →

Everything You Fear to Lose: Remembering Star Wars: Rebels

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1. Spark of Rebellion

“We should watch Star Wars Rebels.”

“Hmm.” I don’t look up from my phone. I’m scrolling through Twitter, words and images rolling along without my registering them.

My then-fiancé, now-husband, has made some variation on this request several times in the past few months. It’s 2016, somewhere during the hiatus betweens seasons 2 and 3, and the Star Wars renaissance is building momentum after the enthusiastic response to The Force Awakens and the curiosity surrounding the yet-to-be-released Rogue One. It’s before the election that changes everything, before Carrie Fisher’s death, before my Leia tattoo, before we start our podcast, before, before–

And my greatest problem, in that moment, is that I don’t know how to tell him that I’m not quite ready to let go of The Clone Wars, which we’ve recently binged on Netflix, not ready to make room in my heart for the Ghost crew’s stories yet. I don’t know how to say it because it sounds stupid. What sounds even worse is that I still smart when I think about Ahsoka leaving the order, or Fives’s death, or Obi-Wan’s loss of Satine. Continue reading →

Let your darlings die. Kill them if you have to.

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This column has spoilers for The Last Jedi, Battlefront II, and all of Star Wars Rebels.

Character deaths are never easy especially if a creator has done their job right and made you care. No one ever wakes up one day and goes “I really want to experience a story in which my favorite character dies today!” However, as a Jedi Master once said, “death is a natural part of life” and sometimes, a character’s story is best served with their death, no matter how much it may hurt those who love them. Ultimately, this is where Star Wars Rebels has failed some of its characters and where both The Last Jedi and Battlefront II have succeeded. Continue reading →

Who Makes Our Myths? On the Unbearable Whiteness of Star Wars

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Almost forty years ago, Lando Calrissian appeared in Star Wars, immediately becoming, as Donald Glover recently put it, “the only black guy in the universe.” Since then, a number of actors of color have joined Billy Dee Williams’s iconic character in the galaxy far, far away, including Temuera Morrison and Daniel Logan of the prequel trilogy, the incredibly diverse ensemble cast of 2016’s Rogue One, three of the starring actors in the sequel trilogy, and of course, Glover himself as young Lando in the upcoming Solo, for which he will be joined by Thandie Newton. As we celebrate these victories, however, it quickly becomes clear that Lucasfilm has only recently fielded casts that don’t merely feature token actors of color; white, male actors still make up the vast majority of the Star Wars universe. And behind the camera, those who have helmed the franchise’s films are overwhelmingly white and male.

Billy Dee Williams broke new ground as Lando Calrissian.

It has almost become a truism that to tell diverse stories, the creators of those stories must be diverse, too–but it’s a concept that’s proven by fact. One needs only to look at recent films directed by people of color to find proof that these movies feature more diverse casts: Creed, Life of Pi, and the upcoming A Wrinkle in Time. Directors of color find it imperative to tell stories starring people who look like them in a way that white directors simply don’t. If white creators found diversity at the forefront of their minds, then we would have had racial parity on screen a long time ago. Continue reading →