Catching Fire Teaser Trailer

Posted on April 15, 2013 by Nanci

Probably my most anticipated movie of the year is The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (which shouldn’t be surprising considering how much Brian and I talked about the series on the podcast when we first read the books). Last night, MTV aired the “exclusive” teaser trailer during their annual movie awards. For those of you (like me) who didn’t bother staying up that late, you can watch it now online.

Personally, I’m really enjoying getting more of Snow in the films. He’s got that creepy Palpatine vibe that I find so repulsive yet so compelling. And since the books are told in first person POV, it’s nice to see what else is going on outside of Katniss’s world. It makes the story bigger and more compelling.

EU Retrospective: The New Jedi Order Part 2

Posted on April 11, 2013 by Bria

Things might be going really downhill for the galaxy but boy are they going uphill for me as a reader! I actually find the middle chunk of New Jedi Order books to be incredibly solid reads and rather enjoy all of them despite the emotions they might provoke from me.

Balance Point:
It’s a marvel I stuck with the New Jedi Order because Balance Point is the third book in a row that just doesn’t impress me. It’s not that it’s necessarily bad, it’s just meh and I find it to be boring.

Again, the bits with Mara and Anakin working together are definitely a highlight. Actually, everything with Mara in this book is a high point. And that’s about it.

The entire point of the book seems to be an excuse for the Solo family to continue to have its issues and to resolve most of them by the end. The other point seems to be for Jacen Solo to continue to have his philosophical issues with using the Force and I still don’t buy any of that reasoning. By this point, the war’s been going on for a year and the Vong are clearly an issue. I don’t believe for a minute that Jacen Solo would sit back and not give his all to defend the galaxy. It just doesn’t fit with this character. With Tsavong Lah declaring that he wants all the Jedi dead and singling out Jacen, this feels like it was almost tacked on editorial meddling when they realized that he wouldn’t be the Solo kid dying.

I’m sure there are other people out there who liked this book but not I. I’m going to stick with my resounding ‘meh’ for my review.

Continue reading →

Tosche Station Radio #53: It’s A Unix System!

Posted on April 10, 2013 by admin

Play in new window | Download
This week on Tosche Station Radio, the hosts look back fondly at of their favorite films, Jurassic Park!

Kicking off the show, the hosts highlight what’s New on the Blog. Bria and the Waru Express started the New Jedi Order and explained that Cosplay Is Not Consent. Meanwhile, Emily finally came up with a recipe for ryshcate! Bria then decided to be an overachiever (and we thank her profusely for it) and wrote up a new comics primer called “So You Want to Read Marvel Now.”

In Fixer’s Flash, Nanci’s kept herself busy by writing a few short stories. She also finished up Timothy Zahn’s Night Train To Rigel and started reading Overdraft: The Orion Offensive by John Jackson Miller. Brian has been reading through Season of Passage while not going to baseball games. Both of the hosts took the weekend to go see Jurassic Park. More on that later!

Deak’s Dirt starts out with news on the Star Wars animation front. Dave Filoni revealed he’s involved in the new animated series. In Expanded Universe linkage, EUCantina did an interview with The Last Jedi author Maya Kaathryn Bonhoff. Her Universe posted a sneak preview of the new Rogue Squadron tank. Outside of Star Wars, Christopher Eccleston will not be involved in 50th anniversary of Doctor Who. Comixology and Marvel team up to offer first issues for free. From Club Jade, the Legend of Korra is coming to BluRay in July! On the Star Wars rumor front, no one has spoken to Billy Dee Williams yet. In continuing entertainment industry woes, Walt Disney Studios was hit by layoffs. Finally, Yoda won This is Madness.

This week on Camie’s Concerns, the hosts look back at one of their favorite blockbuster films: Jurassic Park. How did the 3D re-release fare? Is it the perfect blockbuster? What lessons could future blockbusters learn from it?

Wrapping up the show, the hosts field questions in Ask Us Anything.

Tosche Station Radio is the official podcast of Tosche-Station.net and a part of Majestic Giraffe Productions. If you like what you hear, please leave a review on the iTunes Music Store. We can also be found on Facebook and Twitter.

Nanci and Brian are the co-founders and writers of Tosche-Station.net. You can find Nanci on Twitter with the handle @Nancipants and you can find Brian with @LaneWinree.

This podcast has been brought to you in part by Her Universe and Audible.com.

Think Geek wins at listening to customers

Posted on April 10, 2013 by Emily

It made the rounds this week that Fox started sending cease and desist orders to Etsy sellers who were producing their own version of the iconic ‘Jayne hat’ from Joss Whedon’s cult TV show Firefly. Both Ripple Junction, who now owns the license to make the hats and ThinkGeek, who sells them, denied any involvement in sending the C&D orders. ThinkGeek posted a blog entry attesting to as much.

While there’s not much that can be done for intrepid Firefly fans who want to sell their own versions of Jayne’s hat, ThinkGeek just announced that they have heard the outcry from fans and therefore will donate all proceeds from the sale of the official Jayne hat on sale at their website to Can’t Stop the Serenity, an organization that hosts charity screenings of Serenity in order to help support Equality Now, a worldwide charity that works to further the cause of human rights and end violence and discrimination against women around the world.

Four for you, ThinkGeek. You go, ThinkGeek.

DVR watch: Mark Hamill will guest-star on Criminal Minds

Posted on April 10, 2013 by Emily

TV Guide at Yahoo! is reporting that Mark Hamill will be guest-starring in the two-part season 8 finale of CBS’ procedural drama Criminal Minds. While there’s no word yet on exactly who Hamill will play, TV Guide speculates that he may be following more in the footsteps of the Joker than Luke Skywalker:

Details about Hamill’s role are being kept under wraps, but could he be the BAU’s season-long unsub/stalker The Replicator? In the two-hour episode, the team’s pursuit of The Replicator will come to a head when one of them becomes a victim. Executive producer Erica Messer also previously told TVGuide.com that the BAU won’t come face-to-face with The Replicator until the season’s final two episodes.

The Criminal Minds two-part season finale airs May 22nd, 9e/8c.

More Entertainment Industry Layoffs: Disney Eliminates Studio Jobs

Posted on April 10, 2013 by admin

Not even the Mouse House is immune, unfortunately. According to Variety, Disney has begun the process of laying off at least 150 workers at Walt Disney Studios. Some of the affected employees are part of the animation division, marking yet another company that has been forced to downsize their entertainment arms.

At this point, it appears to be an industry-wide thing. The powerhouse Tippett Studios underwent layoffs a few weeks ago. Last week noted game developer and publisher Square Enix announced that they were eliminating a number of jobs from their Los Angeles studio as part of a corporate re-organization. This is just a sample of the hard times the entertainment industry has found themselves in lately.

While it’s easy for many fans to get angry with Disney for they layoffs at both Lucasfilm Animation and LucasArts, we have to understand that there simply wasn’t any malice involved with those decisions. The entertainment industry is in a state of upheaval right now and that’s forcing these studios to make some uncomfortable choices that lead to re-orgs and layoffs. Given the state of the industry right now, some of this restructuring could have happened even if George Lucas still owned the company.

So You Want To Read Marvel NOW!

Posted on April 9, 2013 by Bria

So you’ve heard about the Marvel NOW! initiative and now you’re curious about the books and want to start reading. We’re a couple of months into the initiative and it has been an overwhelmingly great ride. Unlike DC’s New 52, Marvel hasn’t rebooted their continuity. It’s better described as a shift in the universe. Creative teams have moved around and characters and teams have changed after the events of Avengers vs. X-Men. In short, it’s been a good jumping on point for new readers without tossing years of continuity out the window.

With the relaunch of Marvel and Comixology’s promotion that will offer 700+ #1 digital titles for free, now seems as good of a time as any to sample the comic book world. If you haven’t yet, go sign up for the promotion now as sign ups end April 9th at 11:59 EDT. Over 700 titles is a lot to choose from. In the past, I’ve written about some good jumping on points for the Marvel universe. Many of those books’ #1s will be a part of the promotion and I definitely recommend snagging them along with any one-shots, especially the character focused ones. However, if the current Marvel universe is something that you’d rather dive head first into, the Marvel NOW! movement is definitely perfect for that. Here are some of my personal recommendations about what books you should give a shot.

Avengers
Avengers and New Avengers [CMX – CMX]
I’m writing about these two titles together because they are the opposite sides of the same coin. To quote the writer himself, Avengers is about life and New Avengers is about death. Jonathan Hickman pens both and has thus far been doing a masterful job of it. Both are books that I’d recommend to someone who is already familiar with the universe especially New Avengers since it features the Illuminati group. Regardless, they’ve been fantastic so far. Hickman is the master of the long game writing style but it always pays off. If you like the Avengers, give these books a try. You’ll get to see some of your favorite characters along side some new ones. It’s all about making the Avengers bigger (and hopefully better) then they’ve ever been before.

Uncanny Avengers [CMX]
Spinning directly out of the Avengers versus X-men event of last summer, the two groups have joined together to create one team. The first arc of the book was a “the team assembles” story, making it ideal for newer readers. It’s also something that readers haven’t really seen before which makes it intriguing. (Captain America taking orders from Havoc? That still has me blinking in surprise some issues.) Some of the characters definitely have some history but it’s nothing that a quick Wikipedia search won’t solve for you. Alternatively, you can think of this as the book to read if you can’t decide between the Avengers of the X-men as your favorite team.

Secret Avengers [CMX]
This is definitely a title that’s a bit off the typical Avengers path but it’s one that could easily be accessible for newer readers especially those only familiar with the film. It features well known badasses like Black Widow and Hawkeye and other SHIELD agents and a black Nick Fury and Phil Coulson. 616 fans might be scratching their heads at those last two but film fans will be just fine. It’s all about SHIELD and its missions and looks like it’s going to be a fun book.

Continue reading →

ComiXology, Marvel team up to give away first issues

Posted on April 8, 2013 by admin

Want a bunch of free ~~gateway drugs~~ comics? Good news! Marvel and ComiXology are giving away the first issues to over 700 comics. All you have to do is go over to the ComiXology promotion page and sign up to get a promo code.

Once you’ve signed up, what should you get? Well I’ve got a pair of suggestions.

Hawkeye by Matt Fraction – This might be my favorite series out there right now. Follow the misadventures of Clint Barton while he’s not doing Avengers-y things.
Captain Marvel by Kelly Sue DeConnick – Looking for a well-developed, kickass female lead? Carol Danvers is right up your alley.

The site is getting slammed, so you might need to refresh your browser a couple of times to get it to resolve. Once you’ve signed up, ComiXology will send you a date when you can start downloading your comics. From that date you’ll have 48 hour window to get them.

Cosplay Monday: Jurassic Park

Posted on April 8, 2013 by Bria

Welcome back to another edition of Cosplay Monday where we find some awesome costumes to help cheer you up as you start your work week. This week, we’re going with a bit of a theme because as you might be aware, a little film called Jurassic Park celebrated its 20th anniversary this weekend with a 3D theatrical release. So today, we’re highlighting this great costume by Rachel Williams! Her Jurassic Park ranger costume is spot on and awesome looking! Plus, check out that rad car!

Bake It So: Ryshcate (aka Bourbon Pecan Cake Bars)

Posted on April 7, 2013 by Emily

Yeah, we know. Captain Picard has been asking us what’s been taking so long to get another installment of Bake It So back to Tosche Station too. Truthfully, it’s because I decided to tackle the ultimate Star Wars recipe: ryshcate. It’s the dish that started off Corran Horn and Mirax Terrik’s courtship, and the dish that celebrates Corellia and all it stands for. It contains the very best of Corellian whiskey. The question has been, though–what exactly is it?

I’ve tried various recipes. I’ve made pies. I’ve considered coffee cakes. I’ve worked my way through probably three pounds of pecans, and I’ve tried to figure out how to put genuine Kentucky bourbon into all of it (because what else could be closer to Whyren’s?). My friends have happily celebrated the bounty of my experiments. But it wasn’t until today that I finally found the happy medium–the pastry between a cake and a pie that would bring everything together. Ladies and gentlemen, Tosche Station’s Ryshcate recipe Continue reading →