Blogiversary Plans

I'm so excited because in just a few days HNED will be having its first blogiversary!  It's so amazing that I've been blogging for a whole year now, but I'll save all that gushy stuff for the actual anniversary post.

Because I wasn't sure what to do to celebrate HNED's first birthday, I asked my awesome Followers for their suggestions and one of them suggested that I do some sort of Q&A post.  That sounds pretty cool to me, so that's part of what my anniversary post will include (besides talking about how awesome of a first year this has been).

In order to do that, though, I'll need to call upon all of you - my wonderful Followers - for help.  If there's any question about anything you'd like me to answer (something about myself, or my opinion about some issue, or randomosity, or anything that doesn't belong in any of those categories), then totally comment below and I will answer all of them.

Yep.  All of them.

So comment away!  Ask anything and everything (unless it's something crass or inappropriate.  Don't ask those), and I will answer every last one of them.  If you could get your questions to me by April 18th that would be wonderful.  If you post a question after the 18th, it may or may not end up in the final product.  Just a fair warning.

I also thought it would be cool if HNED managed to get 16,000 pageviews and/or 40 Followers by April 20th (the blogiversary date).  HNED's at just a little bit over 15,000 views and 34 Followers right now, but I think it's totally possible to reach 16,000 views and 40 Followers by the end of next week.  So if you guys would like to help reach that goal by referring HNED to your family and friends, that would be so awesome!

The Q&A is my main plan right now with the view/Follower goals secondary, but if you have any suggestions of something else I could also do to celebrate HNED's birthday then I would totally love to hear them.  Just post your suggestions below, and I'll definitely consider each one.

Well, that's all I've got right at this moment, but I'm looking forward to reading and answering all of your questions.  This will be so much fun!

I hope you guys are having a great week!  God bless!




 - Edessa, signing off

A Great and Powerful Weekend at the Box Office

It's always really cool when films live up to their hype and even their names.

The film I have in mind with the above statement is none other than Oz: The Great and the Powerful, which is leading the box office again in its second weekend.

Earning $42.2 million domestically and $46.6 million overseas (which bumps its two week worldwide total to $281.8 million), Oz has easily become the biggest hit of 2013 so far.  And a big hit is what this film year has been sorely needing for the past few months.  Most of the films that have opened in 2013 have not done as well as the estimations originally claimed, and currently the box office is down a whopping 13 percent from the same time last year.

You don't have to know a lot about statistics and finance to know that a 13 percent drop in revenue is bad.

But with Oz's massive release worldwide, it would appear that the box office will be getting back up to normal speed soon enough.  And if that doesn't help, the veritable storm of incredibly hyped-up animated film (Despicable Me 2, The Croods, Monsters University) should be able to kick start the box office all by themselves.

Another film that is doing well in theaters is the thriller The Call.  In its opening weekend this week, it pulled in a nice $17.1 million domestically.  While that's almost nothing compared with Oz's profit, The Call is still doing much better than it was originally expected to do, and any film will take exceeded expectations as a success.


Here are the ticket sale for Friday March 15th through Sunday March 17th at U.S. and Canadian theaters (courtesy of the Star Tribune):

1. Oz: The Great and the Powerful - $42.2 million ($46.6 million international)
2. The Call - $17.2 million
3. The Incredible Burt Wonderstone - $10.3 million
4. Jack the Giant Slayer - $6.2 million ($10 million international)
5. Identity Thief - $4.5 million
6. Snitch - $3.5 million
7. 21 and Over - $2.6 million
8. Silver Linings Playbook - $2.6 million
9. Safe Haven - $2.5 million
10. Escape From Planet Earth - $2.3 million


Before I end this post, there are just a few announcements I'd like to make.

Firstly, HNED is now on Pinterest!  It's something I've been wanting to do for a little while, so over the weekend I just knuckled down and did it.  Currently there are five boards: Film Posters, Movie Production Stills, Video Game Stills, Star Wars, and the HNED Random Picture of the Day.  I'll try to update all of those boards daily with new pictures and whatnot, and I hope you all like it!  The link to the boards is under the Links tab up there or you can just click the little Pinterest icon on the right hand sidebar to go there.

Secondly, I've started my commentary series on the Star Wars Original Trilogy on The Holocron. I've only recorded one to Episode IV: A New Hope so far, but Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back will be coming later this week.  If you're interested, the Schedule tab on The Holocron site has a list of all of the commentaries that will be coming in the next month or so, and I think it's a pretty fun and diverse list.  I'm also planning on recording a podcast episode of all of the stuff I want to have the new Star Wars trilogy contain, which I hope will be interesting to most (if not all) of you.  So, long story short, be sure to check out The Holocron every weekend for a new podcast episode!

Finally, you all may want to plug your ears because The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey releases on DVD tomorrow and my fangirl screams get loudly obnoxious when it comes to anything related to Tolkien!  Who else is excited?  SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!  =D




 - Edessa, signing off

A New Direction

There's some big news circling around the Star Wars world, and it's most definitely worth keeping an eye on.

As all of you (hopefully) know, Disney recently bought the Star Wars franchise from George Lucas, including all of novels, merchandise, and television series.  While Disney is working on giving us another Star Wars trilogy - which, by the way, will also have Mark Hamil, Carrie Fisher, and Harrison Ford reprising their iconic roles from the original trilogy - it's also putting The Clone Wars and Detours on new tracks.

After an absolutely wonderful fifth season, Disney has sadly decided to wind The Clone Wars series down.  This doesn't mean that they're just stopping with Season Five (there are still a  few more story arcs left for them to tell), but it does mean that the series is slowly drawing to a close.  It's really sad, particularly for big CW fans like myself, but I guess I also realize that Disney would rather focus its creativity on making an amazing new trilogy of Star Wars films.  I suppose I would rather have them devote more of their efforts to that, no matter how much I love CW.

For more information on the CW issue and to see a really exciting clip from one of the upcoming story arcs, check out this video: http://starwars.com/watch/the-future-of-star-wars-the-clone-wars.html

As for the animated comedy show Star Wars Detours, Disney has decided to postpone the series release until an unspecified later date.  Their reasoning is that it doesn't "make sense" to release a comedy series before the release of Episode VII.  Honestly, that logic doesn't "make sense" to me, but I guess Disney will do what Disney will do.  Hopefully the series will release fairly soon because I, for one, am really looking forward to it.

So whether you love or hate or are indifferent to Disney's purchase of George Lucas' iconic franchise, now is still a great opportunity to support that wonderful galaxy far, far away.  Change is most definitely hard and many people (myself included) hate change, but the potential for Star Wars' growth as a franchise is very real and very possible.

Let's rally around Disney and Lucasfilm, Ltd., and encourage them to make this the greatest century to be any type of Star Wars fan!  Viva la Star Wars!

 - Edessa, signing off

New Podcast Episode!

The Hobbit review is now up! Check it out at this link: http://holocroncast.blogspot.com/2013/01/season-1-episode-5-hobbit-unexpected.html




 - Edessa, signing off

Announcement: URL Change Coming Soon!

So I was messing around with HNED's layout and stumbled across its URL.

Good grief, that's one honkin' humungous URL!

Just so my readers don't have to remember holonetentertainmentdaily.com (including remembering how many "t"s and "n"s are in there), I'm thinking it's time to reboot the URL. I'll let you know what I'm gonna change it to sometime tomorrow morning, and then Tuesday morning is when I'll be changing the URL, just so as many people as possible have time to write down the new address.

Hopefully this will be a quick and easy transition with no problems. If you can't remember what the new address is after I change it, you can Google "HoloNet Entertainment Daily" or you can always e-mail me at edessacarrick@gmail.com.

Now to find a shorter URL that hasn't already been taken....




 - Edessa, signing off

Help Needed!

So many of you probably remember that I promised to do a podcast review of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. Don't worry, I'm not going back on it or anything.

What's holding me up is writing the script. There's just so much stuff to talk about, and I'm having a difficult time simply outlining it. I'm seeing the movie again tomorrow afternoon (I already went to opening night), and while I was thinking about that a lightning bolt hit me in the head. Why am I beating a dead horse by continually coming at this thing using the same not-working formula? I'm gonna go at this from a different angle: answering your questions.

If you guys have time, please consider dropping a question or two or bazillion concerning the movie in the comment box, and I'll do the Hobbit podcast episode as a Q&A type of deal. That way I won't have to worry about outlining and discussing random stuff, and you guys will hear exactly what you want to hear.

Win-win, if you ask me. =)

So go ahead and ask me whatever in the world you want about the movie! Location, actors, characters, humor, dialogue, cinematography, whatever you want me to talk about concerning the movie, I'll do it. And there isn't a "maximum question limit" or whatever, so feel free to totally spam the comment box.

Seriously.

The only request I have is that you send me your answers by Monday January 7th. If you post a question after the 7th then it probably won't get in the 'cast.

Oh, and (if you so desire) you can ask your questions by commenting under the appropriate status update (you'll see it) on HNED's Facebook page. Just click on the Facebook icon over there *points to the right sidebar* and you'll be taken directly there.

I'll do my absolute best to answer everyone's questions and the 'cast should be up sometime around the middle of next week. I'm looking forward to all of your questions! This will be so much fun!




 - Edessa, signing off

Congradulations, Mr. Lucas!

NEWSFLASH!

Mr. George Lucas, the Maker himself, is engaged! I would explain all the details, but that would involve repeating the Huffington Post article practically verbatim (which is plagiarism); therefore, I will simply post the link to the article here, if you would like to read it.

Congradulations, Mr. Lucas! I pray that it will be a very blessed marriage!




 - Edessa, signing off

Guest Posts!

Hey, guys!

So, just a quick notice about next week for HNED...

My life is going to be pretty full starting on Sunday (with play practice, mid-terms, and other such crazy things), which means that I won't be able to post or podcast from Sunday the 14th through Sunday the 21st.

As that is the case, I have decided to bring in a bunch of guest posters for my haitus week... and you guys probably know most (if not all) of them! Each day starting on the 14th there will be a different author posting about whatever in the world she wants to post about, and I encourage you guys to check out their blogs if you haven't already. They're all amazing bloggers, and I follow all of them!

I'm really excited to see the guest posts, and I hope you guys are, too! And thank you for understanding why I won't be able to post for a good week or so. I hope you guys have an awesome weekend, and - Lord willing - I'll see you all again on the 21st or 22nd!

God bless you!




 - Edessa, signing off

Calling All Readers!

About a week ago, Helen at Star Wars Here & There interviewed both Stilwater and me (as well as others) about our favorite Star Wars characters.


Stilwater chose Cad Bane. I chose Boba Fett.

And now, about a week later, we've both decided that we will have a Bane vs. Fett debate that will (hopefully) be recorded via Skype and then uploaded as a podcast episode.

Sounds awesome, doesn't it? =D

Well here is where we would like you guys to come in.

Instead of coming up with questions for each other on the spot, we would like it if we could get a bunch of questions from a third-party (i.e., you guys). So if there are topics or questions concerning Bane and Fett that you would like us to discuss, then please post them below! Just fill up the whole comment area with the questions and topics you would like us to discuss in our debate.

If we could get your questions in by Saturday, that would be awesome, and we will definitely try to answer all of them!

Thanks in advance, guys! This debate should be a whole lot of fun! =D




 - Edessa, signing off

Welcome To The Outlander

If you've seen Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones or read the companion novel or just know a lot of SW trivia, you have likely heard of the Outlander Club.

For those who don't know, the Outlander is an establishment in Coruscant's entertainment district. In fact, it's the same place where Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi finally managed to capture Clawdite bounty hunter Zam Wessel.

And now the Outlander is also a blog.

A good friend of mine - helpusobi1 - just launched his Outlander Club blog today, and I'm very excited for it! The Outlander is a purely Star Wars blog, a gathering place for all kinds of Star Wars geeks (much like how the real Outlander was a gathering for socialization).

 "Welcome to the Outlander Club. Please, have a seat, buy a drink, and relax. Enjoy yourself. The tabs above will lead you to many opportunities for your enjoyment. Whatever your reason for coming to the Outlander Club... have fun!"

Each of the Outlander's six tabs are named after areas in the original club: The Bar for blog posts, the Disigee Gaming Floor for discussion about SW video games, and The Floor for general SW-related discussions, among others.

What I think is really awesome is that helpusobi1 designed the whole blog himself, and it looks seriously awesome! The layout is aesthetically pleasing, and the whole thing is extremely creative.

So, fellow Star Wars geeks, die-hards, nerds, and casual fans, I would totally encourage you to visit The Outlander Club and - hopefully - even subscribe to it! Helpusobi1 is one of the most knowledgeable, biggest geeks I know - maybe even more so than me - so check him out! I know he would totally appreciate it!

Helpusobi1: You're an awesome friend, and I hope you'll have an awesome blogging experience. The Outlander is so very cool, and I can't wait both for your next posts and to see how God will use your blog! God bless you, vod! =D




 - Edessa, signing off

100th Post!

I was trying to decide what I should write about today, and then I discovered that this my 100th post!

WOOOOOOOT!!!

Wow, now I feel old....

Ok, no, I don't, but I am really excited about reaching the 100th post milestone!

I know I've said it before, but I'd like to thank all of you guys - my readers - for everything. You guys come from all over the world (which the picture above attests to) and have your own lives, yet you willingly make time for a girl you've never even met before. You are all so very special, and I love you all. Thank you for making HNED what it is today. You rock!

Here's to all of my fabulous readers! May God bless all of you today, tomorrow, and forever! =D




 - Edessa, signing off

Opinions, Please!!

I'm one of those weird, thinker kinds of people, the type who likes to think and strategize. Just ask the guys I roleplay with, or my siblings, or even my Youth Group whenever we play Ultimate Frisbee. I'm constantly creating lists of pros and cons in my head, trying to figure out patterns in what people do, throwing up strategies all the time. Sometimes all of that thinking can be quite the curse, but sometimes it's also helpful, like showing me when something just isn't working.

No, HNED is not the "something" that "just isn't working," so please don't freak out. =)

The thing that's not working is my podcast, The Radar.

The biggest issue is that, frankly, there hasn't been much of anything going on in either the film or video game industries for the past month or so. It's all just lawsuits, rumors, and gossip. Honestly, it's driving me up a wall because I'm all prepared to write a new podcast script...but then there's really nothing interesting to talk about. I don't know about you guys, but I can only take so much reading about lawsuits - much less talking about them - before I absolutely lose my mind.

I figured that out a week or two ago and, since then, I've been racking my brain for a solution. After talking with my siblings and a good friend, I think I've got something figured out, but I really want your guys' opinions on this as well before I either proceed or terminate this.

What I'm proposing is a total overhaul of The Radar. I mean, gut the whole stinkin' thing, change its direction, give it a fresh coat of paint, et cetera.

What I'm thinking of doing is, instead of using The Radar to talk about media industry news, I'll use it to talk solely about Star Wars. In effect, I'll be moving my Commentary Friday posts over to the podcast.

I can imagine that a few questions have started whirling around your head by now, so I'll attempt to answer the most obvious now:



What would you talk about on your Star Wars-themed podcast?
     I'd review new SW books (I just finished X-Wing: Mercy Kill, so there would be a whole review on that), when the new Clone Wars season starts I'd review all of the episodes, I'd talk about various SW issues, I'd talk about what I think might happen to different CW characters, I might even insert some breaking SW news, and even talk about new Star Wars: The Old Republic updates and whatnot.


What if some breaking news happens on the film/game industry front, like if Sony decides to make a PlayStation 4 or something?
     If some big industry news came up, then I would definitely post about it on HNED. That way you still stay in the loop and don't miss a thing.


If overhauling The Radar means that your Commentary Friday posts become verbal, what is going to replace your Friday posts?
     I'm not sure yet, but I did get a lot of favorable comments on my Colorado Massacre post about a month ago asking me to write more serious stuff, so I might devote my Friday posts to covering more serious issues. Don't worry, I wouldn't go into politics or anything, just posts about forgiveness, grace, that kind of stuff.


Would you still do your Star Wars news updates on Tuesdays if you change the focus of your podcast?
     Yes, I still would. Some of the bigger peices of news I might talk about on the podcast, but I wouldn't stop updating on Tuesdays.


Why, exactly, do you want to change the focus of the podcast?
     A few reasons:

1. Most of the news in the film/game industries is all gossip and lawsuits, and only a few noteworthy peices of information actually appear but it's not all that often. After a while it not only gets tedious to talk about which company is suing which employee, but it's also boring to listen to. Star Wars, though, has many more topics to talk about and is updated regularly enough that there seems to be something new and different around each corner.

2. Because of the diversity of SW topics, it will likely be easier for me to have guests on the podcast. Guests are not only awesome, but they also add spice and interesting views on the discussion topic. I'm thinking that more people would rather talk about Clone Troopers than about celebrity gossip.

3. (And this is just a theory) I'm thinking that I might get more of an audience if my podcast was switched over to a SW focus. I think more people are interested in the galaxy far, far away than they are of media news.


Would The Radar retain its name?
     I'm actually thinking that I might want to change it to The WarZone (as in "Star Wars Zone"), but I'm totally open to suggestions here.


What would happen to The Radar episodes you've already posted?
     They'd still be available for download on Internet Archive, but I'd probably delete The Radar's website so as to make room for the new podcast.



So, in the end, what I'm proposing is this:

• The Radar would have a solely Star Wars focus, nothing else
• I would talk about a lot of different topics on the podcast, and hopefully line up a bunch of guests
• The Commentary Friday posts will be replaced with something else (maybe more serious posts?)
• The Tuesday SW news updates would remain
• Any breaking news from the film/game industries would be written in HNED posts
• The cast's name would be changed to separate it from The Radar (possibly The WarZone?)

*whew* That was a lot.

Please let me know what you think of this idea. I am aware that there are quite a few other SW-themed podcasts out there, but I think that another one would do better and be more interesting than what I've got so far.

Anywho, I really want to know what you guys think of this? It'd be quite a big change, but I think it'd be worth it if you guys liked it. So, please, let me know all of your thoughts about this, and if something I said doesn't make sense I'll try to explain it better. Rambling...it's such a curse! =D

Well, thank you for reading this ridiculously long post, and I can't wait to read your comments about this! God bless you guys!




 - Edessa, signing off

LAST DAY TO JOIN!!

Just like the title of this post says, today is the last day to sign up for the Jedi vs. Sith Commentary and to send me your answers to the questions.

I'm still waiting on responses from two or three people, and if you're interested in joining you can still be part of it! Just send me an e-mail at edessacarrick@gmail.com saying that you're interested in joining the commentary, then I will respond back with a series of questions I'd like you to answer about your opinions of the Sith and the Jedi. Please have your answers to me by tonight (Thursday night), and I'll be posting the results tomorrow!

A lot of people have already entered and have awesome answers! =D

For those who have entered...... remember to check your e-mail and answers the questions I sent you by tonight!

For those who have yet to enter....... there's still time!

And for those who have entered and have responded...... thank you! And I can't wait to post all of your answers tomorrow!

Tomorrow we will see who the HNED followers prefer: Sith or Jedi. It's gonna be awesome! =D




 - Edessa, signing off

Calling All Star Wars Fans....!

Jedi or Sith? Join the Commentary today!

I haven't done a Commentary Friday post in quite a while. But while I was thinking up an idea to write about, one of my sisters suggested that I do a post about Jedi vs. Sith. That's a really awesome idea but, as I thought about it, I realized that I'd like to have a lot of people give their opinions on this issue.

And this is where I would like you guys to come in.

If you would like to be part of this commentary, then please send me an e-mail at edessacarrick@gmail.com telling me that you're interested. Once I recieve your e-mail, I'll send you a series of questions I'd like you to answer concerning your opinion of the Sith and Jedi. Please have your answers to these questions back to me by Thursday August 9th, and then I'll post the results on Friday August 10th. Even if you are not an "official" HNED Follower, you can still totally be part of this Commentary!

I hope a lot of you guys will be part of this! This should be a whole lot of fun, and I can't wait to read all of your answers! =D




 - Edessa, signing off