Lit MACLUNKY -- The Lit Forum Maclunky Thread, v3

The Clone Wars micro-series was just chock full of stuff that was absolutely nonsensical but really cool to watch. Which is pretty much Star Wars summed up in a nutshell right there.

 

That does bring back good memories, the micro-series has to be one of my most favorite things related to the Star Wars universe. Just loved it being so over the top, something I would like to see more often going forward, IMO.

 

Mace Windu's rapid-punch dismantling of an SBD army is definitely up there as far as ridiculousness and enjoyment alike.

 

It doesn't get much cooler than lancer clones. If only Tartakovsky graced us with a mini-scene of space jousting...

 

I'm sad that so little elements from the miniseries have survived the canon purge.

 

It's in a better place now.

 

I re-watched volume 1 of the micro series yesterday. The only thing that I noticed that may not fit in canon is the ETA-2 Jedi starfighter Anakin pilots right after he gets knighted. Otherwise, I think it complements TCW nicely.

 

The only one that stands out to me is that the micro-series is more or less what invented cool, relentless Grievous instead of the ineffectual mustache-twirler. But since the latter is Lucas's actual intention, it's what we have in canon.

 

It made sense to me that Grievous would see to run away from Obi-Wan&Anakin during the battle of Coruscant and later from Obi-Wan on Utapau because of his injuries caused by Windu crushing his chest plate, and thus damaging his lungs. That explained why he coughed in ROTS.

 

Anakin's duel with Asajj is one of my favorites.

 

I can't look at a turnstile without thinking of General Grievous now.

 

The highlight of the micro-series imo was Anakin's cave vision on Nelvaan. 2D wall painting animation was as aesthetic as much as ominous, albeit a bit trippy.

Spoiler

 

I liked it more than what they did in the Mortis arc. More subtle than just showing the future, and the dark vines coming together in the face of Vader was great.

Spoiler

I loved the Mortis arc btw

 

Oh, I think (?) I forgot to recommend it when I first read it, but I recently reread it and it's still fantastic. So, even if I've already extolled its virtues, Imma gonna do so again.

THE TRAITOR BARU CORMORANT (or "THE TRAITOR" in the UK), the 2015 debut novel of Seth Dickinson.

As fantasy novels go, I would personally say that he's up there with Abercrombie and Lynch. (And, if you want a SW touchstone then, yeah, I'd say Stover, too)

Here's my favourite passage (yes, I have a favourite passage):

"And he looked at her with open eyes, the bone of his heavy brow a bastion above, the flesh of his face wealthy below, and in those eyes she glimpsed an Imperium, a mechanism of rule building itself from the work of so many million hands. Remorseless not out of cruelty or hate but because it was too vast and too set on its destiny to care for the small tragedies of its growth. She saw this not merely in the shape of his eyes and the flatness of his regard, but in what they recalled - things he had said and done suddenly understood. And she knew that Farrier had let her see this, as a warning, as a promise."

 

I have been having a lot of fun with StarCraft II over the past few days, just the Starter Edition, since I can't really afford much of anything at the moment. I am reminded of why I like StarCraft/Brood War, with StarCraft II actually being easier to play, but difficult to master. I am currently at Medium AI skill level in multiplayer, with my Zerg play lagging behind my Terran and Protoss play a bit. I am also Zeta1127 on Battle.net and my StarCraft II character is Zebulon.

 

I am good/bad* at Starcraft II as well!

Spoiler: *

Everyone is bad at Starcraft II. It is the path.

 

I have been good/bad at StarCraft for nearly a decade going back to StarCraft/Brood War, but I have always liked the universe. Even though I haven't had StarCraft II until recently, I have been following it fairly closely, with the lore, especially the StarCraft II short stories such as Broken Wide, Acid Burns, Stealing Thunder, Icehouse, The Fightin' SceeVees, Perdition's Crossing, and pretty much all of the Protoss ones, have been holding me over even without the StarCraft II Trilogy.

 

OK - incredibly off-topic question here, but I'm seeking some other folks' perspective ... is food snobbery the last widely shared bigotry, or what?

First, a little background: I grew up what I would call comfortably middle-class - casseroles sometimes when times were lean, but we always had food on the table, a roof over our heads, the basics (and I have nothing against casseroles, they can be delicious).

I grew up, moved out, and I'm now what I would call higher-end lower-class (I don't make scads of money, but I'm happy with what I have). And, through my work, I've been exposed to a wide array of different culinary situations, etc. I like to imagine myself cultured, if nowhere near refined.

(Don't ask me to figure out more than 4-5 pieces of cutlery - yes, I know the difference between soup spoon and main spoon, etc., but beyond that, I'm going to google place settings. )

So today, I hear about a certain dignitary having ketchup with his steak. Not my first choice, but I don't consider it a mortal offense.

The blowback, however, on some message boards (not here, but elsewhere) ...

(Note: The blowback was far more about the ketchup than about the dignitary. I'm not naming him because that will likely risk thread-derailing, and that is the last thing I want.)

Now, I get that if a steak was slaved over for hours, with special rubs, cooked to perfection, the cook would have every right to take offense at seeing their work drowned in a sauce. It's a lot of work, food as shared experience, and even ignorance is no defense in that situation.

But in other steak situations ... it's meat. A finer cut than most, sure, but at the end of the day, it's still just meat.

The other issue here is the "offending" sauce itself. I never imagined there was so much vitriol against ketchup. Again, I'm a bit at the drama; some places I delved even had rants against ketchup on fries.

(I don't care where those potatoes were grown, it's starch. Trying to struggle through eating a dry potato may very well be a Geneva Convention violation. Unlike a good vanilla bean ice cream, you cannot "ruin" potatoes or fries by putting a topping on them. The amount of said topping does matter, agreed.)

Now, there are fair arguments that many ketchups are over-sugared, and there's nothing positive about ketchup on eggs (sounds disgusting ). Certain food combinations are just ... ugh. I'll agree there. But breaking out torches and pitchforks ...

Tl, dr;: I mean, Primus' Allspark, people, WHY get so offended over other people's condiment choices?

 

3 years ago yesterday since Aaron Allston passed away

 

Why? And is that bad? I mean since you Americans are all barbarians when it comes down to it.

 

Food snobbery is just so weird. I mean, why would you even care how someone else eats their food? I'm a pretty finicky eater and I just don't get it.