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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

Lit Literature member interviews

Discussion in 'Literature' started by Point Given , Jun 6, 2013.

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  1. anakinfansince1983

    anakinfansince1983 Skywalker Saga/LFL/YJCC Manager star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Mar 4, 2011
    I'm a school librarian in Charlotte and I've worked in several schools in NC over the past 20 years (taught for awhile before going for my masters). One big problem I've seen is the reluctance to have a student repeat a grade, whether because of concern over the student's ego and dropout rates for kids who were retained, or because too many retentions make the school look bad, but kids are being passed on without achieving grade level appropriate skills.

    I'd be a billionaire if I knew what the solution was.

    s65horsey : The Wire is one of the shows I've been meaning to try.
     
  2. Jedi Ben

    Jedi Ben Chosen One star 9

    Registered:
    Jul 19, 1999
    The Wire is awesome, so smart but entertaining with it. Be warned though: On each series my wife and I got to an ep that was a tipping point and we ended up blitzing the rest of the series. Started watching ep 7 or 8 of series 1, then watched the next 6 finishing at 2.00am!
     
  3. krtmd

    krtmd Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Sep 5, 2012
    I concur re. The Wire - both on the quality of the show and the binging aspect.

    Also, one whole season revolves around a school setting - certainly topical to the current OT discussion in this thread.
     
  4. Jedi Ben

    Jedi Ben Chosen One star 9

    Registered:
    Jul 19, 1999
    What makes that setting so much more brilliant is it's in the wake of the show's first big arc concluding and you see these kids going to school, being told they can do this and that but the deck's stacked against them from the start! The bit with the headteacher making the sign of the cross as the bell for the start of the day and the term is a great moment.
     
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  5. ma_petite

    ma_petite Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Nov 26, 2006
    I did try fringe. I liked the first season and then it conflicted with another show I watched and liked more so I stopped watching it.

    Mobile sock of s65horsey
     
  6. Jedi Ben

    Jedi Ben Chosen One star 9

    Registered:
    Jul 19, 1999
    Buy DVDs! :)

    Quite seriously, I no longer really watch any serial weekly unless it's something exceptional - think the last one might have been Shadow Line.
     
  7. anakinfansince1983

    anakinfansince1983 Skywalker Saga/LFL/YJCC Manager star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Mar 4, 2011
    I can't remember the last time I watched TV that wasn't either streamed or on DVD, other than TCW.
     
  8. Point Given

    Point Given Manager star 7 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Dec 12, 2006
    I'm vacationing in Texas until next week so updates will be slow.
     
  9. Point Given

    Point Given Manager star 7 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Dec 12, 2006
    12. What were your thoughts when Disney announced the purchase of Lucasfilm? Have they changed since then?

    13. What are your hopes for the sequel trilogy? What do you think about the selection of J.J. Abrams and Michael Arndt for director and screenwriter?
     
  10. s65horsey

    s65horsey Otter-loving Former EUC Mod star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Jun 24, 2006
    12. What were your thoughts when Disney announced the purchase of Lucasfilm? Have they changed since then?I was ridiculously excited when I heard this and I still am. I didn't think after the Prequels that I was going to get to see Star Wars in theaters again and now I will! Disney is the company behind the current push of super heroes and Marvel. They've been producing movies that I adore so I'm really excited for the prospect of Star Wars being amazing like those movies. If anything I've gotten more excited. I love how they're talking about doing a Star Wars land like Harry Potter World. When I went to Universal to see HP World after the initial shock of how amazing it was to feel like I was standing in Hogsmead, I thought about how much better it would be to have a Star Wars version of this. I hope I get to see this come true.

    13. What are your hopes for the sequel trilogy? What do you think about the selection of J.J. Abrams and Michael Arndt for director and screenwriter?My hopes consist of a fantastic story and good acting to carry it out. I am not naive in thinking that this trilogy isn't going to trample all over the Expanded Universe that I love and adore. I do believe that other dynasties have survived with reboots and parallel universes so ultimately I'm hoping for something that we can say is that. I also sort of think the current EU has written themselves into a hole and a reboot of the EU would actually mean more books for me in the future and possibly better storylines, exciting new character and lots of action.
    I enjoy JJ Abrams' stuff. I really liked the last Star Trek movie he did and think a film like that would fit very well with Star Wars so I have to say I'm pretty optimistic at this point. I adore humor in my Star Wars and he did a great job of combining that with action in the Star Trek Into Darkness. I have liked quite a bit of Arndt's work so far so again I think that makes me even more optimistic about the future. I just hope that the sequel trilogy is able to move on from Luke, Han, and Leia and give us some really powerful younger characters to take into the future. I'm specifically hoping for a really strong female character. I think that is something missing from Star Wars at the moment.
     
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  11. Point Given

    Point Given Manager star 7 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Dec 12, 2006
    14. Which presidents do you most admire? Why?
     
  12. CooperTFN

    CooperTFN TFN EU Staff Emeritus star 7 VIP

    Registered:
    Jul 8, 1999
    Are you still going to ask that question when you interview someone from outside the US?
     
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  13. Lugija

    Lugija Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Oct 3, 2009
    I'm trying to think of a witty answer to that question.
     
  14. Point Given

    Point Given Manager star 7 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Dec 12, 2006
    Of course.
     
  15. Sinrebirth

    Sinrebirth Mod-Emperor of the EUC, Lit, RPF and SWC star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Nov 15, 2004
    That's good as I'll answer ''Hindenburg' if I'm ever interviewed :p
     
  16. Jedi Ben

    Jedi Ben Chosen One star 9

    Registered:
    Jul 19, 1999
    I might go with Sheridan!
     
  17. Sinrebirth

    Sinrebirth Mod-Emperor of the EUC, Lit, RPF and SWC star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Nov 15, 2004
    Ooooh. Good answer.
     
  18. Jedi Ben

    Jedi Ben Chosen One star 9

    Registered:
    Jul 19, 1999
    Sadly, Patrician Vetinari is not a President so therefore ineligible.
     
  19. Sinrebirth

    Sinrebirth Mod-Emperor of the EUC, Lit, RPF and SWC star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Nov 15, 2004
    Isn't the Chief of State strictly speaking the President, too?

    So I could answer Jacen Solo!
     
  20. s65horsey

    s65horsey Otter-loving Former EUC Mod star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Jun 24, 2006
    14. Which presidents do you most admire? Why?
    So I took a questionnaire I found online and got this for my top 10. This questionnaire had no questions about economics on it.
    1. Franklin Delano Roosevelt (100%)
    2. Theodore Roosevelt (96%)
    3. George Washington (93%)
    4. Abraham Lincoln (93%)
    5. Lyndon B. Johnson (93%)
    6. John F. Kennedy (92%)
    7. Andrew Jackson (90%)
    8. Thomas Jefferson (87%)
    9. Ronald Reagan (87%)
    10.
    James Madison (84%)

    I...uhh...basically dislike most presidents. As an economics person I struggle watching conflicting policies put into place by the Federal Reserve and the Government. In order to get out of the rut we are in they have to work together and not work in contradiction to each other. So since my eyes were opened to Macroeconomics I have not liked what I've seen. Though I will say that the policies only work if people are educated enough to go along with it. For instance, how many of you went out and spent the money (immediately) that you got back in the economic stimulus package when Bush was in office? The point of getting it was to spend it, so those that didn't spend defeated the purpose of the policy.

    Idk I'm not big into politics or history.

    My two favorite historical figures are Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson, but I mostly like them because of their horses Traveller and Little Sorrel. I once wrote a paper for school (a Civil War thing) from the eyes of Little Sorrel. I have a bit of a fascination with the Civil War, but I don't extensively study it.
     
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  21. instantdeath

    instantdeath Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Jul 22, 2010
    That's pretty much my answer as well =D=. Well, I like history, but American History has never been of great interest to me.
     
  22. Point Given

    Point Given Manager star 7 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Dec 12, 2006
    15. If you could re-do canon post NJO, what choices would you make, if any?

    16. Do you have your own personal canon? (Things you ignore that have been established as canon, different backstories/futures for characters, or new ones for those that don't have it, etc.)
     
  23. Jedi Ben

    Jedi Ben Chosen One star 9

    Registered:
    Jul 19, 1999
    The big problem - and has been for the last 3 years with the whole austerity politics - is that the politicians have systematically annihilated any sense of consumer confidence, so people are spending carefully with a view to not getting fooled again. Nor do the politicians let up with their "We're doomed" pronouncements, they instead, in utterly incoherent fashion, demand people spend while the cost of living skyrockets and wages stay stagnant. With this cocktail for chaos dominating politics no way do things get better any time soon. This is from a UK perspective but I suspect a good part of it transfers well to US politics.
     
  24. GrandAdmiralJello

    GrandAdmiralJello Comms Admin ❉ Moderator Communitatis Litterarumque star 10 Staff Member Administrator

    Registered:
    Nov 28, 2000

    Brief answer since this thread isn't about Star Wars: no. :p
     
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  25. s65horsey

    s65horsey Otter-loving Former EUC Mod star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Jun 24, 2006
    15. If you could re-do canon post NJO, what choices would you make, if any?I am struggling with this question because of the great unknown of what would have happened if something had changed. In a perfect Star Wars world I'd be written in as a character and marry Corran Horn...I mean (I know this isn't post NJO but I'm saying it anyways) Anakin Solo would either have been written differently to begin with or he wouldn't have died when he did. I also struggle with keeping him alive because his sacrifice was so spectacular and I'm not sure I want to give up one of the best bits of Star Wars we've ever had (imo). I also would not wish for him to go down the same way that Jacen Solo did, so really Anakin got the better end of the deal.
    So post, NJO I would have had the authors come up with a completely new bad guy for the survivors to fight. A random sith from the One Sith escapes and tries to take over. I thought some of the political plot of LotF was good, but throwing Jacen is as the bad guy and then part of a triumvirate just never meshed well with how Jacen was at the end of the NJO for me. Maybe what we really needed between DNT and LotF was a book about the fall of Jacen Solo. I know they went back and attempted some of it in FotJ, but that really was too little too late.
    I can overlook a lot. As I'm reading it I might go, uhh what? but then I accept things and move on with the story. I don't post that often here in Lit because I don't see any reason to constantly complain about things and I dislike that atmosphere. However, one thing that I absolutely can't overlook and would change is Daala's appointment to Chief of State. That never made sense and it will never make sense no matter how people attempt to rectify the situation. There was no reason to bring her back. None. These authors need to buck up and be creative and make new characters for us to hate. Stop resurrecting old ones who have no business being there. It is sloppy, lazy and lacking in the creativity that is a central part of the Star Wars universe.

    16. Do you have your own personal canon? (Things you ignore that have been established as canon, different backstories/futures for characters, or new ones for those that don't have it, etc.)
    Corran and the otters never happened. :cool:
     
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