Other Side of the Planet dot com

Book: Star Wars: Inferno

Posted on November 29th, 2007 by Anna Zhan.
Categories: Blog, Books, Star Wars.

NO SPOILERS: Yes, I will continue with my non-spoiler reviews, for all those out there who, like me, are huge fans, but have fallen a decade behind on their Star Wars reading.

Title: Inferno
.       (Star Wars: Legacy of the Force, book 6)
Author: Troy Denning
Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Anna’s Rating: 4/5 (Highly enjoyable - made me smile.)

When I started reading Inferno, I thought that I didn’t connect as much with this author’s writing, but I soon found myself picking up the book at every random opportunity, so I guess I rather enjoyed it.

It had some neat insights into Darth Caedus’s thoughts and revelations: “The Sith way was one of deep sacrifice, and only now was Caedus coming to understand that he had not sacrificed the ability to love - only the ability to be loved in return.” (p. 104)  It’s interesting, to understand the Sith from the viewpoint that they want to love and care for others, but are constantly rejected because they have done things so atrocious that no one, friend or foe, could ever trust them or sympathize with them, much less love them.

I also started, at this point, to think about the implications of the titles of the last two books in the Legacy of the Force series.  Revelations and Invincible - anyone out there who’s been reading have any thoughts?  I still have to read Fury, but…I can’t stop thinking about it…

It’s great to be reading for fun again.

More quotes:

“It was hard to imagine his uncle having the strength to probe for guilty emotions right now, but the galaxy was littered with the body parts of those who had underestimated the strength of Luke Skywalker.”
- Thoughts of Jacen Solo regarding Luke Skywalker, p. 30

“Take only focused action; never react, only act.”
- Author’s insights on Jedi training, p. 175

“And they fell to arguing, Han insisting that nobody was going after Jacen without him, Luke and the Masters using the weakest of all weapons against his stubborness - logic - to argue otherwise.”
- Author’s insights on Han Solo, p. 200

“It did not seem possible, as if by some natural law the galaxy had to end before Luke did.”
- Author’s insights on Han Solo’s thoughts about Luke Skywalker’s mortality, p. 235 (and yours truly shares the same logic wrt Luke’s motality.)

0 comments.

Book: Star Wars: Sacrifice

Posted on November 24th, 2007 by Anna Zhan.
Categories: Blog, Books, Star Wars.

No spoilers here: I’ll be vague.

Title: Sacrifice
.       (Star Wars: Legacy of the Force series, book 5)
Author: Karen Traviss
Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Anna’s Rating: 5/5 (most emotionally charged book I’ve ever read)

I stumbled across a huge spoiler with no spoiler warning on the ‘net this week - whoever you are, may Darth Caedus find you torture you until you lose the will to live.

Anyways, knowing WHAT happened, it then became necessary to find out exactly HOW it happened, but neither aspect will I spoil here.

That said, I’m OK with what happened in this book.  I was upset.  I cried for about an hour.  But it was done well.  Not all characters are the type to grow old and gray, slow down and end up in the Corellian Senior Citizens’ Home, you know?  Some people are upset about it, and I thought I would be one of them, but I’m not.  I’m OK with it.

On another note (mind you I’m about ten years behind on my Star Wars reading) I have to say that I really liked the character of Ben Skywalker in this book.  A fitting character to carry on the Skywalker legacy.

These books are so quotable that I must start adding a few quotes to my reviews:

“Well, our economic policy right now seems to be to earn foreign credits…get killed…and neglect the planet.”
- Purple Man, p. 20 (hardcover)

“The ambition of most beings is to stay alive, overeat, spend too much, and avoid hard work.  I’m happy that I can achieve much more than that…and we all die sooner or later.  A death in service of a great ideal is a fine thing.”
- Lumiya, p. 148 (hardcover)

Jacen Solo: “Possessions are burdens.  What you have can always be taken away, so wealth breeds fear.”
Wirut: “I’ll willingly face that kind of fear, sir.  And a nice big SoroSuub yacht.  That would scare me very nicely.”
- Jacen Solo to a GAG trooper, p. 238 (hardcover)

Kyp: “…Jacen and Niathal are within their rights.”
Mara: “There’s rights, and there’s right.”
Kyp: “And the semantics thought for the day was brought to you by our sponsors…”
- Kyp Durron to Mara Jade Skywalker, p. 251 (hardcover)

“You know why I trust you, Mom?  Because you didn’t tell me to trust you.  Everyone else tells me to trust them, and that’s usually the cue that I shouldn’t.”
-Ben Skywalker to Mara Jade Skywalker, p. 265 (hardcover)

0 comments.

USA: NYC: Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade 2007

Posted on November 23rd, 2007 by Anna Zhan.
Categories: Blog, NYC, USA.

 
[Kermit the Frog balloon - if you told me 100 people held the strings to this balloon, I’d believe you.]

I’ve watched the Macy’s Day Parade on the TV every year I’ve been in America for as long as I can remember.  It’s a tradition that goes hand in hand with coloring the Turkey in the newspaper - Mom, you better not have forgetten to buy the paper today!

[The Frosty the Snowman balloon - like the Energizer Bunny balloon - apparently prefers to roll instead of float down Broadway]

So I decided that instead of moping around about being homeless and turkyless on Thanksgiving, I’d take advantage of the fact that I was in New York City to finally go see the parade myself.  (And hey, how often is it 60*F on Turkey Day in NYC?  The weather couldn’t have been better.)

[Hello Kitty Balloon - this one’s for my old roomie, Lucy]

To utilize my extensive Chinglish, I will say that it was, as expected, “people mountain, people sea,” but that’s just the way the City is, and if you can’t hack it, then either go sit in your apartment, or better yet, move away so someone who appreciates the City can take your place.

[And this one’s for my family…a giant goldfish/koi swimming through Times Square]

I’d probably go earlier next year to try to find a better spot, but all in all, it worked out OK.  The best seats in the house were definately taken by the group below, who had the brilliance to climb up and perch themselves atop some payphone booths - what a great view they must have had!

[These people got the best seats in the house, hands down]

At the back of the parade, two large elves float happily down the street.  As someone near me explained, the elves lead Santa Claus in.  Santa is the very last float, and they say that when he arrives, Thanksgiving is over and the Christmas holiday season has officially begun.  At 11:30am on Thanksgiving Day, though, I rather thought he was a few hours early.

[Santa’s elves take over Times Square]

This is the most enthusiastic I have ever seen Santa - it was pretty cool.  Reminds me of the time I met Santa in line at the airport check-in counter…true story.  I got his card, and wrote to him for a couple years before losing touch…nice to know Santa thinks about me year round…

[Santa Claus is here and the holiday season has officially begun - I’ll go hide in my hole now]

1 comment.

Meaningless Rant: I’m That Teacher

Posted on November 22nd, 2007 by Anna Zhan.
Categories: Blog, Meaningless Rants.

Everyone’s had the teacher that gets off on tangents in class.  For me, it was my 7th grade Social Studies teacher…I remember one day, we started on Native Americans and ended on Alien Babies Born in Texas.  He was amazing.  I never noticed learning anything in that class, yet, miraculously, we all aced he test…I have no idea how.

Of course, in college there’s always those teachers, too.  I remember my old prof and I used to veer off topic to have in-depth discussions on invariably death or Harry Potter while the whole class sat there.  (If you’re reading this, Prof., I’m sorry…we were both at fault, I guess.)

I always enjoyed those teachers.  They somehow made learning easy and enjoyable.  I used to aspire to being such a teacher…

Today I had a bit of time for Social Studies.  We had some copies of Time for Kids, so I figure that’s a good opportunity to do current events.  Here is what ended up being the progression of my lesson:
1) Current Events
          (Good, strong Social Studies topic.)
2) King Tut’s Tomb 
          (New technology being use to learn more about Tut.)
3) Mummification
          (They were curious and asked.)
4) Chinese Mummies
          (Specifically the 2,000-year-old mummy in Changsha.)
5) Terracotta Warriors
          (Student connection to another 2,000-year-old piece
           of Chinese history - not my fault.)
6) Chinese Ghost Stories
          (There are some freaky stories associated with the
           Terracotta warriors, which we discussed.)

After my 30 minute lesson was up, I reflected on my lesson…from Current Events to Chinese Ghost Stories…and I realized: I’m that teacher that goes off on tangents.

Oh well…so I turned into a mix of my favorite teachers…that’s not such a bad thing, is it?

0 comments.

Star Wars: Mara Jade Costume (part 3)

Posted on November 21st, 2007 by Anna Zhan.
Categories: Blog, Costumes, Mara Jade, Star Wars.

[Myself as Mara Jade at the Big Apple Con, Nov. 2007 - many thanks to Shad for taking the photos and doing the lightsaber effects]

Got the leather; got the belt with thigh holster; then just grab a lightsaber and throw on a nice, green cloak…I give you: Mara Jade!  I admit I’ve always been opposed to Mara wearing a cape, cause it’s just something to get in the way in a battle, but it’s getting cold out so I made this winter adaptation.  Besides, it looked good, and it was fun to wear.  Now what I really need is a good blaster and mayhaps a vibroblade, for good measure.

[I can’t believe I got into this stance in those pants - I am amazing!]

I’m having a great time being Mara, though I admit I may be slipping into deeper levels of Geekdom than ever before.  But you have to understand: Mara has been my favorite character and my role model since I was 14 years old.  She’s intelligent, witty, and sarcastic, with a good dose of bitterness in there.  She’s loyal, dedicated, and strong-willed.  She’s a talented martial artist and pilot, among other things.  There’s nothing I can think of that Mara can’t do, and while I’ve never met a person in this world that I wanted to emulate, Mara has always inspired me to be an individual that I both respect and admire.

10 comments.

Games: LEGO Star Wars II (PS2)

Posted on November 20th, 2007 by Anna Zhan.
Categories: Blog, Star Wars.

5:30pm
Roommate: “Wanna try the new game?”
Anna: “Sure, let’s just play for a short while - then I’ve gotta do some stuff.”

…insane gameplay ensues…

Roommate: “Alright, I can only play until 8:00pm.”

Now, I had no intention on playing until 8:00pm…but something clued me in that it was closer to that hour than I had realized…

Anna: “What time is it?”
Roommate: “7:34.”
Anna: “8:00pm.”

…aftrer a few minutes, surely less than ten, I decided to check my watch, just to keep an eye on the time…

Anna: “Umm…”
Roommate: “Yeah, I know.”
Anna: “It’s already 8:10.”
Roommate: “Let’s just get to a save point.”
Anna: “Are you sure?”
Roommate: “C’mon.”
Anna: “K.”

We finally quit at 8:37pm.

Three hours of our lives…for the low, low price of $19.99. 

Lego Star Wars is highly recommended.

0 comments.

USA: NYC: Big Apple Con: Stormtroopers

Posted on November 19th, 2007 by Anna Zhan.
Categories: Blog, Costumes, Mara Jade, NYC, Star Wars.

[Mara Jade (me) with two stormtroopers, a scout trooper, and Boba Fett]

I was just running into Sbarro’s for a slice of energizing pizza when I saw the stormtroopers.  I was fascinated to find out that the scout trooper was actually a girl.  “It works as long as I don’t speak,” she said.

So girls CAN be stormtroopers!  That means that I, too, can be a stormtrooper!  (Though I enjoy being Mara Jade so much…I’m not sure if I’m ready to put this costume away yet…)  Still, it got me thinking about how to get and make the armor.

[The idea of wearing stormtrooper armor inspires some odd, but important, questions…methinks separate pants and shirt may be a better choice than a full-body wetsuit…]

Then I found something AMAZING…followed by something stupid.

         
 [AMAZING:                                [STUPID:
  Hot Female                                 Skanky
Stormtrooper                           Semi-Armored
    Armor]                                 Femtroopers]

If anyone knows WHERE I can get the awesome female stormtrooper armor, or knows someone who has it, please, please, PLEASE leave a comment.  Is SO want to do this.

8 comments.

USA: NYC: Big Apple Con: Ghostbusters

Posted on November 18th, 2007 by Anna Zhan.
Categories: Blog, NYC.

 
[A modern Ecto-1…my next car is totally gonna be white with Ghostbuster stickers on it!]

I was looking for my fellow Jedi when I found them, parked out in front of the Big Apple Con with the Ghostbusters theme blaring.  A modern Ecto-1, sitting right there before me.

[Myself/Mara Jade with the Long Island Ghostbusters…I love this city.]

I talked to the guys.  They’re a group out on Long Island that appears at cons for fun and promotions.  Today, they were promoting a new Ghostbusters fan film, Return of the Ghostbusters.

[The back is loaded with all their gear!]

3 comments.

USA: NYC: Halloween 2007: NY Jedi

Posted on November 5th, 2007 by Anna Zhan.
Categories: Blog, Mara Jade, NYC, Star Wars.

[Myself as the infamous Mara Jade]

This picture, which was taken while we were getting ready to line up for the Village Halloween Parade, was taken with Rebekah’s cell phone camera.  It really amazes me how far these things have come.  I had an early cell phone camera, where the camera was actually a separate accessory that could be attached to the phone.

[NY Jedi group photo at the end of the Village Halloween Parade]

In addition to marching in the parade, ABC News also did a short piece on us for Halloween, which you can also view on YouTube.  You can see me several times, in full Mara Jade costume, either dueling or sneaking around in the background, causing mischief.

0 comments.

USA: NYC: Halloween 2007: Predator

Posted on November 3rd, 2007 by Anna Zhan.
Categories: Blog, Costumes, NYC.

[Predator Mara Jade]

Flynn’s predator helmet was getting passed around, and I don’t know why, but it’s just irresistible, so I had a go at it.  As did the plastic, candy-filled jack-o-lantern below.

[Predator Jack-o-Lantern]

I also ceated Geek Predator, below, as wearing my glasses underneath the helmet wasn’t all that comfortable.  It looks good, no?

[Predator Geek…or Predator Nerd?]

2 comments.