Microsoft Surface, Star Wars things, & a New Logo!

I have been an Apple guy when it comes to computers since 2008 when my older brother convinced me to buy my first iMac.  Since then I have also gotten an iPhone and have definitely been involved in the Apple ecosystem.  This summer I had been looking around trying to find the best tablet device for taking handwritten notes with superior palm rejection technology along with the ability to run some of the older games I was feeling nostalgic for (basically, older Windows based games including my personal favorite: the Space Quest series & of course the various Star Wars PC games).  This led me to look at Windows based PCs once again (I grew up on them, but hadn't used one in years).  Unfortunately Apple's iPad does not do so well in the palm rejection field of handwritten notes on a tablet, but Microsoft's Surface Pro does phenomenal.  So, long story short, I purchased my first Surface Pro 3 about a month ago.  I'm still learning how to work with it and only just discovered the built-in app called Fresh Paint.  This app allows a person to draw using various art utensils and styles (acrylic, water-color, crayon, etc.).  I started playing around with it and decided to put my art skills to the test (I don't brag them up by any means, in fact I don't consider myself an artist at all).  I drew up what I think is a pretty neat little logo, one that I have decided to adapt for the blog.

The idea that I tried to capture in this drawing was a feeling of old and new when it came to Star Wars.  The lightsaber is obvious for what it is, I just drew it without any reference point (I did not intentionally make it look like any single person's lightsaber, just a generic one).  Green because green is my favorite lightsaber color.  The background symbol is that of the Legacy Era of the Star Wars Legends (EU) universe.  This era contains my favorite stories including the Legacy of the Force series, the Fate of the Jedi series, and the Legacy comic series.  That symbol represents the old that I love so much and will carry with me into the future.  BB-8 represents the new.  He is one of the new characters coming in The Force Awakens and will keep the ball rolling (so to speak) into the future of Star Wars.

I hope that I am able to convey those sentiments with that drawing (a drawing I'm pretty impressed with considering my lack of talent).  I'll leave it up to you, the reader, to find any other meanings beyond what I intentionally placed in the logo.

I also got our Twitter account up and running so be sure to follow Sean and I there: @clubbwuatu

It's Like Endor Out There.

So, apparently if you've ever wanted to know how the Forest Moon of Endor feels like, just go to the Big Horn Mountains in Wyoming.

Yesterday, a Catholic priest friend, Fr. Brian Hess, and I headed up into the Big Horn Mountains to go camping.  Rather than just tent camping we had something else in mind for this trip.  We reserved and camped in the Sheep Mountain Lookout Tower, located in the Big Horn Mountains near Buffalo, WY.  This is a historic fire lookout tower constructed in 1950 which sits atop Sheep Mountain.  It served as a fire lookout tower until the early 1970's and has since been cleaned up and now anybody can go online and reserve it overnight to go camp up there.  It sits right at about 9,600 feet above sea level and the view is absolutely phenomenal.  The building itself is square with windows on all four sides so one can see out in every direction.

Drinking coffee with my Empire Strikes Back mug

Being up in the mountains with the beautiful forest surrounding me I couldn't help but stand in admiration of God's handiwork in all of creation.  It is incredible what beauty nature holds.

That evening we saw three mule deer bucks as they scrounged around for food up near the tower.  The night sky was clear and since the full moon is close, we got a good view of the moon itself, but less so of a star-filled sky, which would have been awesome as well.  The morning brought a couple more deer to the area as we drank coffee and watched the sun rise higher into the sky.  I also took that opportunity to look up a geocache that was on the same mountain and find it.



Since I had a little quiet time, I decided to catch up on some reading that I've been trying to do.  I finished my second read through of C.S. Lewis' Perelandra (2nd of his Space Trilogy), I am reading it with a friend.  When that was finished, I picked up and read Dark Horse Comics' Star Wars: Jango Fett - Open Seasons.  This comic has been on my shelf all summer to read and I'm pleased I finally got to it.  This is the second new Star Wars literature (new to me, not new in publish date) I've read this summer, the first being Christie Golden's new novel, Star Wars: Dark Disciple (which, by the way, was fantastic!  I hope to write a post on that too).  Anyways, I am a big fan of Jango Fett and I'm probably in the minority when I say this but I like him more than Boba Fett.  I think for me this is true because after seeing Star Wars: Attack of the Clones in theaters was when I really got into Star Wars and Jango Fett was a big part of the plot.  That being said anything in the Star Wars EU that explores Jango Fett is great by me.  The comic itself was good, giving his backstory and how he became the template for the clone army in Attack of the Clones.  This is of course one version of that story, with the video game, "Star Wars: Bounty Hunter" giving a different version.  Personally, I prefer the story in the video game since I owned and loved playing the PlayStation 2 version of "Bounty Hunter" when I was younger.  At any rate, the comic was enjoyable, although definitely too brief for my liking.  Maybe in the new canon Jango's character will be explored a bit more, but I won't get my hopes up.



All-in-all a fantastic little overnight trip into the Big Horn Mountains.  I love to get out and go camping and so this was a slightly different experience for me.  Ultimately I would say that my preference would be to camp near a mountain stream, but this kind of camping, perched atop a mountain, definitely had its own awesomeness too.  The beauty in creation and some great literature proved to be a good combination for me.

I think I can see the Endor Shield Generator Bunker from here!

San Diego Comic Con

San Diego Comic Con has been going on these past few days. Coffee With Kenobi posted on their blog a video of the Star Wars Panel. It was great. I have never really followed any Comic Con very much, but I do know that SDCC is a very popular event. Ever since Star Wars Celebration in Anaheim I have been eager to see more interviews with JJ Abrams and Kathleen Kennedy, as they are behind it all. 

JJ Abrams is starting to impress me a bit, I am a little skeptical mostly because of how much he changed the world of Star Trek with his movies. But hearing him have so much respect for the fans, and the story itself is very redeeming for me. Also back at Star Wars Celebration hearing him say he has taken some steps back from CGI and going more the original route is great, it allows a more natural filing style. And to top it all off he invited everyone, all 6,000+ to a concert even more impressing. 

The panel itself was bigger than I expected it to be. after seeing Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, and Oscar Isaac, they are considered the good guys, it was great to meet some of the Dark Side, Adam Driver, Gwendoline Christie, and Domhnall Gleeson. Why? well the whole star wars universe is based on the Light vs Dark side of the force, and seeing more dark side actors for me was a plus. I just hope these characters are up to the task, there have been some great dark side characters portrayed in the movies, Darth Maul, Count Duku, and of course Darth Vader. So i hope these actors are up to the task of playing a live action dark side character. 

It was great to see Mark Hamil and Carrie Fisher again, I always enjoying seeing them talk. I found it great that Mark openly admitted that he flunked a Star Wars quiz. The cherry on top was Harrison Ford! Seeing him walk out on stage was awesome! He isn't the biggest fan of these events so to see him come on stage was jaw dropping. I think he is excited for this as well. Seeing Han, Luke and Leia all together brought back fond memories of watching the movies I think i may have to do my annual movie-thon of the star wars movies, perhaps when my kid is born I will get them started on the right foot. Harrison stole the show, fans were so ecstatic about seeing him and asking questions. 

Sadly no new trailer for the movie, we have to wait until the fall for that, but we did see some behind the scenes footage. This is going to be a fun few months leading up to the movie.  It may be a bit until I post again, we shall see when this Kid arrives, until then "It will take a few moments to get the coordinates from the navi computer"

Hello All

Hello all, My Name is Sean Heller, and you could say I am relatively new to the whole universe created around Star Wars. I have always been a Star Wars fan, but never really have gone beyond the Movies and occasional video games, until recently. With Disney purchasing the rights of Star Wars I decided to jump into all of this to see what it was all about.

A bit of a back-story. I got into Star Wars when I was very young. I saw the digital remakes of A New Hope and The Emperor Strikes Back in movie theaters with my Dad. But it took a while for me to see Return of the Jedi. I was able to see the prequels multiple times in the movie theaters. I then proceeded to get into the video game side of star wars. I spent hours and hours playing Star Wars Jedi Power Battles for the PlayStation great game I enjoyed playing through the story arc of The Phantom Menace as a Jedi. I also spent many hours playing Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic which is where I became very interested in the Old Republic. The Old Republic era is where I find myself reading the most books. I find it fascinating to see how much the story has evolved from the movies, and to see how the many writes have created a whole universe around these movies.

  

I am very excited to see where the Star Wars universe is headed. After celebration Anaheim I am counting the days to see the new movie.  As far as the new cannon is concerned, I am a little hesitant mostly due to the fact that I want to make sure it stays as great as it has always been, but I feel this is the best move to make new movies and continue the story we all love without having the constraints of a the EU to follow, and hey now Chewbacca live! Andrew and I look forward to exploring this universe with you all. Until next time be on the look out for droids.  

The Ultimate Fanboy Moment

Yesterday I experienced the ultimate Star Wars fanboy moment!  I had the immense pleasure of meeting this famous girl whom I've seen over and over again on YouTube (and so has more than 22 million other people)!  If you haven't seen her adorable video describing Star Wars: A New Hope, check it out below.

I saw her and her family and ran over to them to introduce myself and, not feeling at all ashamed, I went on to tell her I was one of her "fans" and that I had seen her on YouTube many times, loving it each time.  She just looked up at me with a big smile and beamed.  I got to spend just a short amount of time talking to her and her mom about Star Wars and her experience and I made a point to ask her if she was going to see Star Wars: The Force Awakens in December, and of course the answer was "yes!"  She was one of the coolest young Star Wars fans I've been able to meet, a young girl in a great family.

I absolutely loved every minute of the experience of talking to her and definitely had a big fanboy moment (still not ashamed).  Not that she is some super famous actress (like Carrie Fisher or Natalie Portman), but she is a young fan of Star Wars who is known throughout YouTube because of her video.  Even so, that is not what makes her special, what makes her special is that she is a kind young girl, living a normal life with her family.  I feel incredibly privileged to have gotten to meet her in person and not just know her by watching her video on YouTube when she was 3 and melting every time I see it (even though I'll still do just that).

Lastly, my two favorite lines from her:

"The shiny guy always worries." (referring to C-3PO)
"Don't talk back to Darth Vader, he'll getcha!"

If you want to read more, check out her dad's original blog post here.