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

Chic, IL Errant Venture - book club discussion/info

Discussion in 'MidWest Regional Discussion' started by ThomSolo, Oct 3, 2004.

  1. ThomSolo

    ThomSolo Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    Apr 21, 2002
    Since the previous book club discussion thread is now all the way on page 3, and had a tendency to ramble, I opted for starting a new one. Let's keep this one a bit more on-topic, shall we? :)

    Here are the upcoming books -

    December - Yoda: Dark Rendezvous
    January - Republic Commando: Hard Contact
    February - Labyrinth of Evil
    March - The Phantom Menace
    April - Attack of the Clones
    May - Revenge of the Sith

    Since there aren't any further Clone Wars books set for release between February and May, Phil suggested that we read the TPM & AOTC novels, to prepare for the ROTS book. Everyone agreed, so there you have it. :)
     
  2. ThomSolo

    ThomSolo Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    Apr 21, 2002
    We had a very good meeting today, and even had a new member, Tyler. *applause* Dan will be posting our "cast list" for this month's book, Jedi Healer.

    The books for the rest of this year are in the first post for the thread... and, in fact, I will be updating that post with new books as they are selected. That way, people don't have to go hunting through the thread to find the next book or two, it'll be right there at the top. :D

    Next month we'll be meeting at the Schaumburg Barnes & Noble. Due to Thanksgiving, the meeting will be moved up one week, to the 20th.

    That's all for now.
     
  3. Lt_Dak-Ferris

    Lt_Dak-Ferris Jedi Youngling star 3

    Registered:
    May 26, 2003
    Had a great time at the meeting today! Where are you Sithman? I thought for sure we'd see you at your first downtown meeting today. I hope the transition to city life is going well.

    Anyway, here is how the group casted Medstar I: Battle Surgeons and Medstar II: Jedi Healer

    Jos Vandar - John C. McGinley
    Barriss Offee - Nalini Krishan
    Den Dhur - Bob Hoskins
    Lt. Kornell "Uli" Divini - Zach Braff
    Tolk le Trene - Ashley Judd
    I-5 - Michael Rosenbaum
    Klo Merritt - Brian Dennehy
    Zan Yant - John C. Reilly
    Admiral Bleyd - Michael Clarke Duncan
    Admiral Kersos - Richard Dean Anderson
    Phow Ji - Jet Li
    Col. Vaetes - Ronny Cox
    Kaird - Hank Azaria
    Eyar - Jessica Alba
    Epoh Trebor - Bob Hope
    Revok - Justin Timberlake

    What a movie! I think we should contact YodaDaMax and have his crack film team get right on making these novels a film reality!

    Word.
     
  4. Sithman

    Sithman Jedi Grand Master star 7

    Registered:
    Jul 6, 1999
    "Where are you Sithman? I thought for sure we'd see you at your first downtown meeting today. I hope the transition to city life is going well."

    Bah, trust me, I wanted to go. A multitude of college-drama things happened including, but not limited to (A) staying up too late last night, (B) waking up too late today, (C) realized I had more homework than I had thought I did last night.

    I'm glad you all had a good time though, and I did really want to be there. Oh well. :(
     
  5. ThomSolo

    ThomSolo Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    Apr 21, 2002
    Your presence was sorely missed, Kevin. :)

    Do we have any suggestions for books going into 2005? Obviously we will need to do the ROTS novel, though if we do it in May that'll only give the spoiler-free folk just over a week to read it. (4th Saturday in May 2005 will be the 28th)

    Before May? Afterwards? The consensus at today's meeting was that we should finally sit down and tackle the entire New Jedi Order series next year, once ROTS has passed... say, in the fall? Thoughts?
     
  6. Lt_Dak-Ferris

    Lt_Dak-Ferris Jedi Youngling star 3

    Registered:
    May 26, 2003
    I wanted to nominate Republic Commando: Hard Target for the January Book Club. It came out this week and the buzz has been good.

    Did anyone read Star Wars Galaxies: The Ruins of Dantooine? I just started it this week and so far it is seems OK. Not great or anything, but OK for the first 40 pages or so.
     
  7. DestinyFroste

    DestinyFroste Jedi Youngling star 3

    Registered:
    Nov 6, 2002
    [color=660099]Do you mean Hard Contact? I would second that. Then in February I was thinking Labyrinth of Evil.[/color]
     
  8. Lt_Dak-Ferris

    Lt_Dak-Ferris Jedi Youngling star 3

    Registered:
    May 26, 2003
    Whoops. Yeah I meant Hard Contact.

    Although who can forget the Jean-Claude Van Damme/John Woo classic Hard Target.

    Labyrinth of Evil sounds good for Feb.
     
  9. Lt_Dak-Ferris

    Lt_Dak-Ferris Jedi Youngling star 3

    Registered:
    May 26, 2003
    At the last book club meeting we discussed how the Republic could have developed a navy so quickly. We also questioned how Admiral Kersos could be a career military man in the Republic. I think the consensus was the Republic may have had something akin to our Coast Guard pre-Clone Wars, but that this was then greatly ramped up once the conflict began. I think we also said that the navy probably used the military personnel of its member worlds to grow. Well, the latest issue of Star Wars: Republic (#71) illumninates the issue a bit. A captured officer of the Republic states:

    "The Republic never had its own navy until the Clone Wars. It always depended on the home fleets to supply what was necessary. Now the home fleets are perceived as a threat."

    Does this contradict what we thought? To me, it basically supports what we said. I don't think he means all home fleets would be perceived as a threat, just those fleets that joined the CIS or were thinking about leaving the Republic. Just thought some of you might find that interesting.
     
  10. ThomSolo

    ThomSolo Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    Apr 21, 2002
    I think that all home fleets would be considered a potential threat, simply because even systems still loyal to the Republic would have anti-Republic elements. Home fleets--focused on loyalty to the home system--would be an ideal breeding ground for dissent against the galaxy-wide Republic. Likely the bulk of such fleets would have been brought into the Republic navy, with those systems refusing to give up most of their local defenses (even if they had valid reasons, such as a Separatist fleet on their doorsteps) would be viewed with suspicion on some level. Meanwhile, the career military of the consolidated home fleets would form the core of the Republic Navy's officer pool, which goes along perfectly with our evaluation.
     
  11. Rogue4809

    Rogue4809 Jedi Youngling star 1

    Registered:
    Aug 2, 2003
    I agree. A strong central government never wants an armed populace that it cannot control. As Palpatine draws the power to himself, it would be automatic that he would want control of any and all military forces. The Clone Wars gives him the perfect excuse to centralize control and make the military loyal only to him, rather than individual systems. The bonus is he "looks good" doing it.
     
  12. kosure

    kosure Jedi Master star 3

    Registered:
    Mar 5, 2004
    I (believe it or not) agree too. Having independent Planetary, and system wide armys seems similar to having rouge militias, and gages of bandits roaming the galaxy. The only logical thing to do would be to annex these military forces into the greater Republic army. Even if these forces stayed only in their systems.


    In the same token, the systems that had rumbleings to join the CIS, such as Ando, and Sullust, had already, or would soon Join the CIS anyway. So the republic neednt worry about them, except to possibly to help encite Coup's, or revolutions, or else to help the republic sympathetic people to escape, or leave the planet.
     
  13. Lt_Dak-Ferris

    Lt_Dak-Ferris Jedi Youngling star 3

    Registered:
    May 26, 2003
    Well since the next book club is a week from now I thought I'd give this a bump. Has everyone started reading Jedi Trial? I haven't begun yet. I'm still trying to finish Star Wars Galaxies: The Ruins of Dantooine. I'm pretty sure I can read both before the meeting.

    On another note, I recently got even older and in compensation I received . . .

    The Illustrated Star Wars Universe
    The New Essential Guide to Vehicles and Vessels
    The New Essential Guide to Characters
    The Essential Guide to Droids
    The Essential Guide to Alien Species

    These books are so cool and so much fun to flip through. Once Christmas rolls around I'm hoping to nail down a complete set of the essential guides. Now if I can just get all the Fact Files from Europe as well . . .
     
  14. ThomSolo

    ThomSolo Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    Apr 21, 2002
    Yesterday was our biggest meeting in a long time, with an even dozen people attending. :) The general opinion of Jedi Trial was thumbs-up, though there were some dissenting votes. Character development wasn't the book's strong point... I liked the new characters, but wasn't enthralled by them. It had plenty of action, though, and that kept the pace moving quickly. I liked that, others not so much.

    We made some initial casting calls, but the list is far from complete. Dan, who'd we decide upon?
     
  15. JediAutobot

    JediAutobot Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Dec 3, 2000
    And don't forget, a new attendee, Barry stopped by.
    I had a good time as always.
     
  16. Mos_Eisleian_Radio

    Mos_Eisleian_Radio Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Nov 26, 2000
    The idea's come up before about possibly choosing a different restaurant for the city meeting. I would like to recommend Buca di Beppo at 521 N. Rush St. It's a great place if you have a large group.

    Phil
     
  17. kosure

    kosure Jedi Master star 3

    Registered:
    Mar 5, 2004
    Good one Phil. Buca's awesome.
     
  18. ThomSolo

    ThomSolo Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    Apr 21, 2002
    I support the idea of alternate restaurants at both locations, just for the sake of variety. Maybe we could hit Portillo's for the next Schaumburg meeting in January?

    For the record, I won't be staying for lunch after the December meeting on 12/18. Indeed, I may not be able to make it at all, since that's my family's holiday celebration day. :)
     
  19. kosure

    kosure Jedi Master star 3

    Registered:
    Mar 5, 2004
    Right. I forgot to mention that Laura and I discovered on our long ride back to the train (thanks again laura) That I won't be able to make it to either of the next two book club meetings as I will be out of town. But I did get Dark Rendezvous today, so maybe someone will have a little bit of discussion about it with me here.

    -tyler.
     
  20. DestinyFroste

    DestinyFroste Jedi Youngling star 3

    Registered:
    Nov 6, 2002
    [color=660099]Just for refrence, I thought I would post our book history.

    The Star Wars Book Club History:
    January 2003: X-Wing: Rogue Squadron
    February 2003: Courtship of Princess Leia
    March 2003: Heir to the Empire
    April 2003: Tatooine Ghost
    May 2003: Dark Force Rising
    June 2003: I, Jedi
    July 2003: Last Command
    August 2003: Splinter of the Minds Eye
    September 2003: Shatterpoint
    October 2003: Approaching Storm
    November 2003: Lando Trilogy (the first person to say it dies!)
    December 2003: Rogue Planet
    January 2004: Shadows of the Empire
    February 2004: Spector of the Past
    March 2004: Vision of the Future
    April 2004: Survivor's Quest
    May 2004: Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter
    June 2004: Cloak of Deception
    July 2004: Cestus Deception
    August 2004: MedStar I: Battle Surgeons
    September 2004: Star Wars Trilogy
    October 2004: Medstar II: Healer
    November 2004: Jedi Trial

    Futrue Books:
    December 2004: Dark Rendezvous
    January 2005: Republic Commando: Hard Contact
    February 2005: Labrynth of Evil
    March 2005: Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
    April 2005:Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones
    May 2005: Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith

    [/color]
     
  21. ThomSolo

    ThomSolo Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    Apr 21, 2002
    *sacrificing himself for the cause*

    [AustinPowers]
    "Lando's not a trilogy, he's a man, baby!"
    [/AustinPowers]

     
  22. Lt_Dak-Ferris

    Lt_Dak-Ferris Jedi Youngling star 3

    Registered:
    May 26, 2003
    Wow. I've read all of those books except Tatooine Ghost and Cloak of Deception. And I've been to 16 meetings! Holy cow.

    Anyway, I just thought I'd post from what I remember of the casting we did from Jedi Trial.

    Pors Tonith - voiced by Alan Rickman
    Captain Slayke - Denzel Washington (perhaps digitally altered to be really tall)
    Nejaa Halcyon - Jason Isaacs (he was the bad guy, William Tavington, in "The Patriot" and Lucius Malfoy in "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets")

    I don't think we ever cast Grudo. Although since then I thought that Michael Biehn of the original Terminator movie would be a great "old soldier" type.
     
  23. DestinyFroste

    DestinyFroste Jedi Youngling star 3

    Registered:
    Nov 6, 2002
    [color=660099]Okay, so everyone think of casting as you read, otherwise Dan will cry when no one wants to cast ;)

    Thom...I know where you live (and one of the places that you work)![/color]
     
  24. ThomSolo

    ThomSolo Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    Apr 21, 2002
    True, but if you kill me, then you wouldn't be able to take advantage of my B&N discount every other month....
     
  25. DestinyFroste

    DestinyFroste Jedi Youngling star 3

    Registered:
    Nov 6, 2002
    [color=660099]Death is too good for you anyways.[/color]