A Wedding Day Ramble

Due to the fact that I need to finalize a list of upcoming games/movies to blog about (I'm a little behind on that), this particular post will be a Saturday Ramble.

Two of my friends from Youth Group are getting married to each other in less than four hours, and I'm so very excited for them.

But at the same time, it also feels a little...weird.

I don't know.  When I look at and hang out with my friends and family, I just kind of subconsciously assume that they'll stay the way they are for the rest of their lives.  I know that's totally impossible and won't ever happen, but I think like that anyway.  Maybe it's because I just don't like change.

This will be a big change.  These two friends have been dating each other for over three years, so it makes sense that they'd get married eventually.  Now it's happening, and if it feels surreal to me (whose only job in the wedding is to run the tech aspects) I can't even imagine how it must feel for the bride and groom.

Part of the issue - undoubtably - is that I don't like change, and even though I'm not extremely close to these two friends it's still going to be an adjustment.  The other part is probably a little, nagging tinge of... longing.

I'd like to get married one day (no matter what I said when I was five), and when I go to weddings I always feel a little bit sad.  I see other people with their dates and then the bride and groom together, and I wonder if I'll have the opportunity to be in that situation as well.  Right now it doesn't seem like it'll ever happen.  "Forever Alone" and all that.  It makes me feel a bit jealous sometimes.

It drives me crazy that I think like that.  I mean, really, it's not right to be envious of anyone, and it seems even worse right now because this is supposed to be a happy, celebratory day.

But I do think like that at least once at every wedding I've ever been to.  I'm thinking about it right now, just two hours before I have to go for the final rehearsal.  It's probably better to get it out of my system now rather than be self-pitying while I'm there.  Even so, I wish I wasn't envious at all.

It's so annoying.

At the same time, though, I know that God's got a great plan for me.  And if that involves getting married, then WOOT!  And it if involves being single for the rest of my life, then WOOT!  I know I'll be praying today that all I think about is how happy I am for my friends on their wedding day.  Being envious is just so selfish and rude and won't help anyone in the long run.

Besides, I get to dress up and get free cake.  What's not to love about that?

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to run an errand at the bank before I "get dolled up" (as my Grandma puts it).  It'll be fun, and I'm looking forward to it.

Don't let me think of myself, God.  It's not worth it.

 - Edessa, signing off

Bring Back Boba

So I'm breaking my Monday, Wednesday, Friday posting schedule, I know, but this is too important to pass up.

There's a petition going on for the creators of the new Star Wars Rebels animated show to keep Boba Fett (still as a teenager/young adult) as a regular, recurring character.  Daniel Logan - the man best known for playing young Boba - has expressed great interest in being part of Rebels, and there's already a Bring Back Boba campaign going on all over the Internet.

If you want to see Daniel Logan as Fett in Rebels, show your support by liking the official Facebook page and tweeting with the tag #BringBackBoba.  If you're a blogger, podcaster, vlogger, or anything similar, please also consider getting your opinions about the topic out there to encourage more supporters.

Studios do listen to their audience.  The more people who support this, the stronger our voice will become, and the more likely that the production studios will greatly consider our proposal.

Get on the campaign and show your support not only for the greatest mercenary this side of Coruscant but also for the amazingly talented Mr. Logan.  There isn't anyone in the galaxy who does Fett better than he does.




 - Edessa, signing off

Podcasts, Buttons, and Scheduling, oh my!

After a very long (but extremely fun) orientation at my new college, classes have finally started today, the Internet is working again, I've been watching way too many Star Trek episodes with Borg (if that's at all possible), and we are back, back, back.

This particular post is a basic overview of things that have happened and what's to come.  Hopefully it will contain things you're all looking forward to, both here and on the Holocron site.


Firstly (since we're on the topic of the Holocron), two new podcast episodes have been posted on the site: a two-part commentary of the special extended version of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.  It's pretty crazy talking through a film that long, I know, but I'm such a geek that it was simply inevitable that this would happen.  Plus, it was crazy fun.  So if you like LOTR and/or like hearing me talk (that sounded slightly stalker-ish...), then you should totally check them out.  It's great fun.

Secondly, HNED has recently had a little work done.  Robyn Lindenmayer (check her out, folks.  She's awesome) created some sweet new social icons for the site so you all can navigate to my e-mail, the Holocron, my Pinterest, and my Twitter just like that.  She also adjusted the margin layout so it looks a whole lot better.  I'm excited about how awesome it looks, and those icons are still totally cute.  I love them so much!

Thirdly, since college just started today, I've created a schedule to live by that also includes designated blogging times.  You can expect HNED updates every other day (starting today and not including Sunday) sometime around 5:00 and 6:00 p.m. Central Time.  The Holocron will be updated once a week (usually on Saturdays), but occasionally I will probably have to update that particular site every other week depending on my work load.  I'll also be posting a new updated podcasting schedule for the Holocron by the end of the week (though likely sometime late Friday afternoon).

Added to all that, I would like your help with something.  If you notice that I haven't blogged for a fair amount of days and seem to have dropped off the planet entirely... please, please, PLEASE don't hesitate to bother me about it.  Spam my inbox, my Twitter and Facebook pages, stand on your rooftop and scream at me, whatever it takes to get me back on track.  Procrastination is probably my worst fault, and I want to break it like Bane snapped Batman's back.  But in order to do that, I need to have accountability partners to yank me back on the path when I start to stray.

Long story short, I'm literally begging you to please bother me incessantly if I disappear without notice.  I would sincerely, honestly appreciate it.


That's all I have for now, but I think that's a pretty good start.  So check out the Holocron, admire those pretty buttons, check up on my Twitter and Pinterest if you're interested, and let's kick this new schoolyear off well (and keep it kicked off).

God bless you guys!




 - Edessa, signing off

Liebster Award

I've just been given the Liebster Award from Gabrielle, a very good friend of mine who has a really good writing blog called The Ink Stained Parchment.  If you like writing, you should totally check out her blog!


So to accept this award, I have to state eleven random facts about me, then answer the eleven questions Gabrielle asked me, and then pick eleven friends whose blog has less than two hundred followers and ask them eleven random questions.  Let's start with the eleven random facts, shall we?


1.  My reading list for this summer has about forty-two or forty-three books on it that range from historical fiction to sci-fi to theology to fantasy (I like a lot of different kinds of books).

2.  I sometimes livestream my online gameplay using Twitch.tv (my channel - unoriginally - is EdessaCarrick).

3.  I like fuzzy animals and even go running to hug cute animals in video games.

4.  I don't like hot dogs.  They're just...bleh... *shudders*

5.  On the other hand, homemade apple pie is absolutely AMAZING!  Particularly my mom's.

6.  I'm going to start working on my entry 501st Legion costume hopefully sometime next week.  I want to go as Eleena Daru (from the book Deceived and from one of the SWTOR trailers), but if the lekku start giving me pains then I'll probably switch to Darth Zannah.  I'll definitely keep you posted on the process!

7.  As much as I love dogs, I would love to have a pet sloth or slow loris or koala someday.  They're just so stinkin' cute!

8.  Err...wow, I'm running out of ideas.  Uhhhhhhh...I eat things, I guess?  Like food.  I eat food.  That's kinda random, right?

9.  I LOVE PINTEREST!  LIKE LITERALLY!  IT'S JUST SO AWESOME!  Yeah.

10.  I'm a Communication major, and I'm thinking I'd like to work in the film and/or video game industry for public relations and/or advertising (not sure which yet).

11.  I'm that weird kind of individual that everyone seems to be comfortable with telling me everything, and that's totally ok with me because I really love helping people and giving emotional and physical support whenever I can.  Probably makes sense why I'm a Communication major, right?  =P


And now to answer Gabrielle's questions:

1. Why did you start your blog? (If you already been asked this question and answered it, you don't have to unless you want to).
     Well, I have been asked before, but I'll answer anyway.  I started HNED simply because I love video games and movies, and I wanted to share that love with fellow fans.  That's the uber-concise version, but hopefully it still works.

2. Where do you hope to find yourself in five years?  10?
     I'd really like to be married in five years, and hopefully before ten years.  Other than that, I'd like to graduate from college and have a career in public relations and/or advertising for some video game or movie production company.  I'm thinking 343 Studios, EA, BioWare, Disney, Warner Bros., or even Microsoft, but we'll see where God leads.  Wherever I end up, though, I definitely want to be a light for Christ to my fellow workers and bosses and then (by extension of working public relations or advertising) the world at large.

3. If you could be in any movie, what movie would it be?
     The Lord of the Rings, no questions asked.  I'd wear all the crazy make-up and even be ok with never being seen on-screen, just please, please, puh-leeeeeeeeease let me be in just one little tiny scene!  That would be just so awesome!

4. Are you quiet, shy, or outgoing?
     Er, it kinda depends.  I'm very quiet and reserved when I'm around people I don't know (doesn't mean I don't smile or talk to them, but I'm just very careful to not let them see all my craziness because I'm paranoid like that), but I'm very talkative, random, and all around crazy when I'm around people I know.  And if you're really close to me, then you get to see the really deep-rooted fangirl passion that is me.  So, yeah.  It depends on who I'm around and what the situation is.

5. What are you currently reading?
     I'm currently reading three books from my reading list: The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis (amazing book), Come Thirsty by Max Lucado (also an amazing book), and Foreigner by C.J. Cherryh.  And I'm always reading the Bible, so I guess that counts, too.

6. Star Trek or Star Wars?
     Warsie For Life!  I mean, I love Star Trek, Stargate, and Firefly (working on Dr. Who), but Star Wars is just unbeatable!

7. When you are at the library or movie rental place, do you find yourself reaching for an action/adventure film, romantic, comedy, or documentary?
     Action/Adventure is what I go looking for, but honestly there are so few in that genre that can actually meet my high expectations.  Sometimes I can just sit down and watch what I call a "junk movie" (a movie that just exists to entertain and make me eat popcorn compulsively), but most of the time I want to watch a movie with clear messages, a well-thought-out plot, deep and well-rounded characters, complex themes, meaningful cinematography, and immersive acting.  Unfortunately, most Action/Adventure movies are "junk movies," so I usually just end up going for a BBC drama like Little Dorrit, Emma, or Bleak House.  BBC is just amazing like that.

8. Lewis or Tolkien?
     Tolkien all the way!  LOTR is my favorite book (after the Bible), and he's just inspired me so much.  I do like Lewis, but really only his books on Christian theology and doctrine.  I mean, Narnia is good, but he just writes better nonfiction than fiction, in my opinion.

9. If you met the Doctor and he said he would take you back in time to any place in history, what period would you choose?
     Asking this of a history geek (like me) is like asking a dog what kind of food he prefers.  I think if I had the choice, I'd want to go back to the time of Christ so I could follow Him around on His ministry and get to ask Him some of the questions I have.  Hopefully the Daleks wouldn't follow us, though...

10. Do you watch cop shows?
     Only Monk and Castle.  Cop shows really aren't my thing, but I do like those two.

11. Are you into Biblical Archaeology?
     I haven't kept up-to-date with any of it, but I do find Biblical Archaeology quite fascinating.  The Dead Sea Scrolls are one of my most favorite discoveries, but any discovery that clearly gives more and more evidence for the truth of the Bible makes me so happy (not like anyone should rely on physical evidence alone, but sometimes it helps for witnessing).


I would now like to give this award to...

Tiberius Shift
James the Movie Reviewer
Helen
Solace Utara
Robyn
Faith
Stilwater
Jessica Greyson
Kelli
Rebecca
Duchess of Mandalore


To accept the award, you just need to state eleven random (or not-so-random) things about yourself, and then answer these questions:

1.  If you could go anywhere in the world for as long as you'd want to, where would you go?
2.  What's your least favorite food?
3.  Biggest pet peeve?
4.  What's the best movie and/or video game and/or tv show you've ever watched/played?
5.  Do you prefer "junk movies" (movies just for enterainment's sake) or deep, complex ones?
6.  What's one of your most favorite memories?
7.  Where do you see yourself in five years?  Ten years?
8.  What is your number one fandom?
9.  Would you rather be stranded on a deserted island with Deadpool or Wolverine?
10.  Describe your room in three words.
11.  What's your dream job?


Thank you, again, for awarding me, Gabrielle!  Hopefully I'll get to see you again sometime soon!  =D




 - Edessa, signing off

One Trailer to Rule Them All

The official trailer for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug has arrived, and already I can feel all sorts of fangirl-ness building up inside of me!  Who else can't wait for December??

 - Edessa, signing off

Hello, XBox One

The big reveal has finally come to pass.

Please welcome the XBox One, the newest gaming console from Microsoft since the XBox 360 about six years ago.

Some of you may have caught the livestream of the reveal earlier this morning, but for those of you who didn't I'll be highlighting a lot of the cool stuff that happened.  If you'd like to see a recording of the stream yourself, just click this link.  Otherwise, I hope you all find this post of quick highlights interesting and informative.


The Console

So what's behind the name "XBox One?"  A lot of people were expecting the new console to be named the XBox 720 or the Infinity, so One was a little surprising (for me, at least).  Microsoft's desire and goal with this new system is to not only revolutionize gaming, but to revolutionize entertainment as a whole.  The two tag lines that the speakers kept using to describe the system were "Simple, instant, and complete," and "The all in one experience."  Basically, the developers want to sync every type of entertainment - from the internet to watching movie, from listening to music to gaming, and everything else in between - into one easily accessible, easily controlled system: the XBox One.

So what makes this console a big screaming deal?  A lot of things, actually.

First and foremost is the voice recognition software.  The new Kinect (which will come with every XBox One console) has been upgraded to recognize your voice and various vocal commands.  True, the original Kinect can be accessed with vocal commands, but with the new version it will be so much more conversational as well as so much faster.

During the demo, Yusuf Mehdi showed off every aspect of the XBox One's voice recognition system.  It started with powering on the system ("XBox, on") and then went on to watching TV ("XBox, watch CBS"), to bringing up the built-in TV Guide ("XBox, show TV Guide" or "XBox, what's on HBO?"), to accessing the Internet ("XBox, bring up Firefox"), to loading up a game, and then right back to the start page ("XBox, go home").  What made all of that even more amazing was that the switches between all of those applications - even from listening to music, to playing a game, to watching a specific TV show - were completely seamless.  It was incredibly fast, exactly like simply switching TV channels with a remote.

Not only can you use voice commands, but you can also use universal hand gestures to move through the system.  Bringing your fists together diagonally will make an in-use application smaller, while moving those fists outward diagonally makes the application fullscreen.

The Interface system remembers what you were last doing before you shut the system down, including what game you were playing and any other applications (like Skype or Netflix) that you had running.  It also contains multiple organizational tabs such as Trending, Games, TV Shows, and My Pins, among others.

The One also offers a Snap Mode similar to the Windows 7 snap feature, group Skype video calls on your TV, and the Guide: a voice controlled search and navigation system for movies, shows, games, and other related things.  Probably the biggest feature here, though, is XBox's ESPN system.  When watching games on ESPN, you will receive automatic live fantasy league updates, clips of game highlights, league standings, and all sorts of stuff in that regard.

What about the actual system itself?  What's in the One that makes it so cool?

In a nutshell... five billion transistors, 8 GB RAM, built-in Blu-ray player, USB 3.0, HDMI in/out, 802.11n Wireless with Wi-Fi Direct, 500 GB HDD, and 8 Core CPU in the console itself.

The new Kinect contains... 1080p HD RGB Camera, 30 FPS color, Time of Flight (TOF) technology, and Microphone arrays that allow it to recognize your voice and respond quickly to your vocal commands. As far as the you-as-the-controller is concerned, this new Kinect contains more joints, greater depth, and is better able to read your minute movements and balance.  It can even read your heartbeat, making it even more sensitive to how you move within a game.

Even the iconic controller has been updated... Integrated battery compartment, Impulse Triggers, Wi-Fi Direct Radio Stack, Precision Directional Pad, and dynamic feedback triggers.

And while they're updating everything, Microsoft might as well update XBox Live, right?  The new updated service will be more powerful and more personal.  It's powered by 300,000 servers, which is more than the whole world's computing power in 1999.  It will work on a Cloud system, saving your games and everything you do anytime anywhere.  The online interactions will also take place in persistent worlds with bigger matches.

The Games

So that's all pretty sweet, but what's a console without games?  I mean, that's the main function of even an entertainment synchronizer like the One.

Four EA Sports games will be launched at the same time as the One, all of which will be made with EA's new engine: Ignite.  These four games include titles in FIFA, NBA Live, UFC, and Madden, and Ultimate Team in FIFA 14 will only be available for the XBox One.

EA's new Ignite engine is much more powerful than their previous one.  It's capable of making four times more calculations per second with ten times more animation depth and detail.  Plus these four new sports games will also include 3D dynamic crowds to make your experience even more immersive.

More titles are in development for this new console than ever in XBox's history: 15 exclusive games in the One's first year, 8 of which are brand new franchises.  Forza Motorsport 5 - which was briefly demo-ed during the event - will be available at the launch of the One, and some games such as Call of Duty: Ghosts (more information on that later on) will be released first exclusively on the One.

Call of Duty: Ghosts

For all of you CoD fans out there, Ghosts looks to be an incredibly beautiful game.  It encompasses a whole new world with a new story, new cast, and was even developed on a new next generation engine.  The characters are easier to connect to emotionally - much of which probably comes from the experience of writer Steven Gaghan, who wrote the movie Traffic - are fully customizable, and look very realistic.  One of the newest characters is actually a German Shepherd who looks amazingly realistic, even down to the scars on his nose and the tattoo in his ear.  The game's plot involves the crumbling of America and a group of former Army SpecForce troopers who are working to deter that. The multi-player even allows for revamped, dynamic maps: ones that change due to earthquakes, floods, and eve ordinance that players set off in-game.

And the animation!  It's quite literally the most beautiful thing I've ever seen.  You can now leap and go over obstacles, lean out behind walls to fire, the world is full of fluid dynamics, the AI system is very cool (like fish who move out of the way when your character gets too close), and swirling interactive smoke, among may other features.  There's also increased texture resolution - dirt beneath fingernails, bruises, blood, and individual hairs on arms - as well as self-casting shadows that really make the experience so much more real.  And, as always, this new CoD game will run at a crisp 60 fps.

Other News

There's also some really big news for Halo fans.  As you probably knew, 343 Industries and Microsoft released a Halo webseries - "Forward Unto Dawn" - not too terribly long ago, and considering the success of that campaign a new live-action Halo TV series will be coming... under the direction of Mr. Steven Spielberg, himself.  No other information was given, but we know it's coming and it should be good if Mr. Spielberg is part of it.

The biggest drawback to the One?  It's not backwards compatible with the 360.  According to Microsoft's corporate vice-president of hardware, Todd Holmdahl, "We started with a completely new architecture for this generation [of XBox], and the architecture that we have with the 360, that would have been limiting to go forward with."  The 360 will still be supported for many years to come, but it won't be compatible with the new One system.


*whew*

So that's all the basic information concerning the XBox One.  More information will be coming in the next few weeks at the E3 conference, but until then I think that's quite enough to wet our whistles.  I, for one, am pretty excited about this new member of the XBox family.

XBox One will release worldwide later this year.  I'll let you know the specific date whenever Microsoft gets around to releasing that information.

Now I'm curious to see how the upcoming PlayStation 4 will stack up.  Time will tell, I suppose.

 - Edessa, signing off

XBox Reveal Live Event

Microsoft is revealing the next generation XBox live in less than ten minutes.  If you're interested in watching, click here at 12:00 CST/1:00 EST.  I'll be watching and, hopefully, I'll make a post highlighting the event afterwards.

This should be a lot of fun!




 - Edessa, signing off

Happy First Blogiversary!

So, yes, I know that this is coming fairly late at night; however, it's still April 20th, which means that I can still say...

HAPPY FIRST BLOGIVERSARY, HNED!

It has been a truly amazing year and, honestly, I wasn't sure that I would ever be able to celebrate a blog's first birthday.  But because of you - my wonderful Followers and readers - I can stand here, a full year later, and say "thank you."  Because, really, what is a blog without its Followers and its readers?  It's you all that have kept me going and who have encouraged me to continue blogging, and for that I am more grateful than I could ever express in words.  The English language just isn't sufficient to convey the depth of my gratitude for all of you, so I must simply say: thank you so very much.  You're all so wonderful, and I ever couldn't ask for better Followers.  Thank you so, so much!

Now I bet you're all anxious to hear my answers to the awesome questions you all asked over the past week or two, or at least I hope you're all interested in hearing them.  So, without further ado, here is episode eleven of The Holocron: Blogiversary Q&A!




I answered every question I received and had so much fun doing it, too.  I hope you all enjoy this episode (which will also be posted on The Holocron site) and, again, thank you so much for just being you.  You're all so very awesome, and I can't wait to see what the next blogging year has in store for all of us.

May God bless each and every one of you today, tomorrow, and for all of eternity!




 - Edessa, excitedly and gratefully signing off

Quick Little Reminder

This is just a quick reminder that today is your last day to send in your questions for HNED's first birthday this weekend.  If you comment with your questions after today (i.e., on the 19th or 20th), there's a good 90% chance that they won't get answered.  So if there are any questions about anything at all that you'd like to ask me, then comment away before it's too late.

I'm so very excited for this!  It's still so amazing that HNED has been around for a whole year.  God definitely blesses us, even through social media.  =)




 - Edessa, signing off

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

Farewell, LucasArts

I heard the big news during my Audio/Visual Production class yesterday afternoon and, honestly, I'm still not happy about it.

Disney shut down LucasArts.

There wasn't any warning.  There weren't any rumors about it.  They just discussed it quietly and then suddenly laid off over a hundred employees yesterday morning.

And gamers like me are still sitting here in shock at the whole thing.

For those of you who don't know, LucasArts is the video game company that George Lucas - the Maker himself - founded years ago.  They've been the publishers and developers behind games like LEGO Star Wars, The Force Unleashed, Battlefront, and so many others.  And now it's gone.

By a technicality, LucasArts still exists.  According to one of the company's representatives, their position was compared to other similar developer/publishers in the gaming industry, and they've "decided to shift LucasArts from an internal development to a licensing model, minimizing the company's risk while achieving a broader portfolio of quality Star Wars games.  As a result of this change, we've had layoffs across the organization" (Computerandvideogames.com)

Basically, LucasArts will no longer be developing games, just publishing them.  It also means that two big games that so many people were looking forward to playing - Star Wars 1313 and First Assault - have apparently been totally cancelled.  Supposedly, they're looking for another development company to finish both games, but that may or may not end up happening.  It's all rather up in the air at the moment, and probably will be for a while.

Honestly, I'm really not liking this.  I mean, I had some initial reservations about Disney taking over the Lucas Empire, but then I figured, "Hey, it's Disney.  They do quality stuff, so they probably won't screw this up."

Then they cancelled The Clone Wars.

And now they've totally messed with LucasArts.

I think what makes me the most upset is the fact that over 150 LucasArts employees were laid off because of this decision.  I mean, it would have been one thing if Disney had warned them about it, but from everything I've read it seems like the developers just walked in one day and found their jobs gone.

I mean, really, Disney.  Couldn't you have at least let them finish making Star Wars 1313 and First Assault before you laid them off?  Those guys had been working on those projects for so long, and now they don't have the opportunity to finish what they started.  And for a creative person (which game designers, programmers, and developers definitely are) who puts so much time, effort, and imagination into his work, being dropped from that project that you put almost everything into is nothing short of terrible.

But what's done is done.  Disney has made its choice and, unfortunately, that choice involved almost two hundred men and women losing their jobs.  For me, I know I'll be praying that all those who were laid off will find good work soon and specifically work that they love, and I would encourage everyone else out there to do the same.

And who knows?  Maybe one day we'll look back and realize that this was ultimately a good decision for everyone.  Right now it feels like anything but.

Expectations are sky high for you, Disney.  Please don't mess this up.




 - Edessa, signing off

Happy April Fool's Day!

So as most of you guys figured out, my last post about cancelling HNED was nothing short of an April Fool's Day joke.  I hope I didn't freak you guys out too much (even though it was a lot of fun to read your comments about it =P).

On a very serious note, though, the HoloNet's first blogiversary is on April 20th (which is in a few days), and I have no idea what I could do to celebrate it.  So I thought I'd open it up to you guys: what do you think I should do to celebrate HNED's first birthday?

If you have any suggestions, just comment below and I'll definitely take all suggestions into consideration.  I have basically no ideas at the moment, so send all of your suggestions in!  I'm looking forward to reading what you guys all have to say.

Besides that, I'd just like to encourage you all to check out The Holocron every so often.  I'm doing a commentary of the Original Trilogy right now (The Empire Strikes Back - my personal favorite - will be coming soon) and I've got a bunch of other episodes lined up, including one on everything I'd like to see in the new Star Wars trilogy.  Also, if you're on Pinterest you should totally check out HNED's boards.  I've got quite a few of them, ranging from movie posters all the way down to some random drawings of mine.  The links for Pinterest and The Holocron (as well as HNED's Facebook page) are over there on the right hand sidebar.

And I do believe that's all I really have to say at the moment.  So what kind of pranks or tricks did you plat on your friends, family, or Followers for April Fool's Day this year?  I always like to hear stories like that because they give me a good laugh and great ideas for next year's Fool's Day.  =D

I hope you all had a great (and not too embarrassing) day!  God bless!




 - Edessa, signing off (but not for good =P)

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

Happy Valentine's Day!

To all of my wonderful Followers and casual readers, Happy Valentine's Day!

Or Happy Singles Awareness Day!

Or Happy Chocoholics Day, depending on your own personal opinion of today's official holiday!

 - Edessa, signing off

Double Awarded!

I've just received two Blogger awards from some very awesome people! =D

The Shine On Award Rules:

1. Link back to the blogger who nominated you.  Thank you so much, Stilwater! 

2. Post the badge on your blog. It’s pretty. Do it.

3. Answer the questions posed to you. Regardless of how out-of-left-field they may be.

4. Nominate five bloggers who shine a little light in your day and be sure to notify them.

5. Issue some questions you’d like them to answer.

1.  Has a character death ever made you shed actual tears and cry uncontrollably?

     Not yet, no.  =P  I have gotten very close to crying during movies (A Walk to Remember and Courageous, most notably), but I've never actually done it because I hate to cry myself.  So, yeah. Not yet, but I probably will one day sometime in the future.

2.  What are your current favorite songs?

     Oh, dear. So many to choose from! Well, right now I'm really liking Remember Me and What Faith Can Do by Kutless, Halo 4: Revival Remix by Butterfly Crash, and the Misty Mountains song from The Hobbit soundtrack.

3.  If you had two million dollars, what would you spend it on?

     I'd definitely give a huge chunk of it to the church, then I'd probably pay off my college loans.  If there was any left over, I'd take my family and my two best friends on a trip across Europe.  I'm thinkin' I might need a bit more than two million to do all of that... =)

4.  If you could live in any time period in history, what would it be and why?

     Another hard one. Ummm... I think I'd probably live during the time of Roman Emperor Constantine.  Looking back, God did so many amazing things during that period (not that He's not now, but it was during Constantine's rule that Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire, two great Christian creeds were written [Nicean and Chalcedon], and so many other cool things happened).  So, yep.  That's where I'd go if I could.

5.  Why did you start your blog/DA page?

     Well, originally I had a blog on an online school's social site, but I switched it over to Blogger because I wasn't going to be going to that school any longer due to graduation.  So that was the main reason behind it, but now I continue it to be salt and light to the whole world (Matthew 5:13-16)...and to fangirl occasionally. =)

6.  Do you have a part-time job?  If so, what is it?  Do you like it?

     I do have a part-time job.  I work at my college's theater box office, so I reserve tickets for people, answer questions, and hand out tickets on performance nights.  I really like it because it's such a calm job (well, until everybody and his mother starts calling the desk at the same time, but that's a different story), plus I love theater and my boss is the most amazing lady on the planet! It's probably the best job I've had so far.

7.  What museum do you want to visit the most?

     Hmmm...I've never really thought about it.  I think I'd probably want to go back to the Huntsville Space Museum.  That was probably the most amazing museum I've ever been to!  I mean, really, it's kind of hard to beat a museum with a real space rocket sitting outside of the building (I got a picture of my siblings standing directly under the engines, so that was pretty sweet).

8.  If you like Star Wars, what are you looking forward to most that's Star Wars-related in the future?

     Everything, basically.  More Clone Wars, Underworld, all the film being converted into 3D, new video games, more SWTOR content, J.J Abrams and Disney taking over the franchise, the new movies, and finishing up my Sith outfit so I can finally join the 501st Legion. There's just so many reasons to love Star Wars right now.

 And here are the bloggers I'm nominating:

Tiberius Shift

James the Movie Reviewer

Faith

Arda

Savanna

And if you're on that list and decide to accept the award (I won't be hurt if you don't), here are the questions I have for you:

1.  What is your least favorite movie/TV show ever?

2.  Dark, Milk, or White chocolate?

3.  What do you think of Valentine's Day?

4.  If you were stuck on a desert island in the middle of nowhere, would you rather be stuck with Jar Jar Binks or a hungry Ewok?

5.  What was the last book you read?  Did you like it?

6.  What has God been teaching you this year (so far)?

And now for the other award...

1. Display the award logo on your blog.

2. Link back to the person who nominated you. Thank you so much James, Solace, and Stilwater!

3. State 7 things about yourself.

4. Nominate 15 bloggers for this award and link to them.

5. Notify those bloggers of the nomination and the award’s requirements.

So, seven things about myself.  Hmmmm...

1.  I was born in Czech Republic, but even though I am an American and I live in America, I still consider Europe to be home.  I don't completely know why, but that's just how it's been ever since I can remember.

2.  I'm known for making random noises, making up nonsensical words, and inserting random interjections into basically any conversation just because I can.  Actually, I once wrote a dictionary on how-to-speak-Edessa.  I wonder if I still have that...

3.  The very first movie I ever saw at a midnight release was The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.  It's also the only movie I've ever seen at a midnight release, but I'm hoping to do it again with the other two Hobbit movies.

4.  I get writer's block very easily.  Like very extremely easily.  So it's really hard for me to get into writing because inspirational moments only come once in a blue moon.  I'm working on it, though.  I will get that screenplay done whether my writer's block likes it or not.

5.  One day I would like to go to Germany and direct a film there.  I lived in Germany for about three years, I've always loved German culture, and I've been studying the language for about four or five years so far.  Add to that, the Germans are well-known for their very deep films, so I'd love to go there and direct a German film in German.  It would be definitely hard, but it could also be such a wonderful learning experience and a great way to share God's word overseas.

6.  I'm usually very casual and laid-back, but I do occasionally get into moods when I rant for half an hour about something that bothers me or something that I know is very wrong.  It's basically like going into a Hulk mode, due to the raging-ness of it.  Actually, the best way to get me into Hulk mode is to ask me what I think about politics...

7.  One of my best friends just got me hooked on the Firefly TV show, so much so that I think I may create a crusade to bring the show back (or at least help continue the one that's already going on).  Bring back Firefly!

You wanna know what?  I'm gonna give this award to all of my Followers.  You guys are all very inspiring and encouraging to me.  I couldn't have asked for better Followers than the ones I've got.  You guys all rock!

So thank you again to everyone who awarded me! I really appreciate it, and I hope you all have a wonderfully blessed rest of the week!

 - Edessa, signing off

Hangout with The Clone Wars on Google+

Something big will be happening this Saturday, and I think all of you fellow Clone Wars fans are gonna love it!

Because the new episode "The Lawless" will be changing the show forever, the cast and crew at the CW have decided to do a Google+ hangout, something that may even become a regular thing one day. Ashley Eckstein (Ahsoka Tano), Matt Lanter (Anakin Skywalker), supervising director Dave Filoni, and Sam Witwer (Darth Maul) will all be hanging out live tomorrow morning to discuss the show, and you're invited to join them.

And I think that sounds uber-super cool!

The hangout starts on Saturday Feb. 2nd at 10:30 a.m. PST (that's Pacific time, people, so do the math accordingly if you don't live in that time zone), and there isn't an official end time. If you would like to be part of this hangout, make sure you have a working G+ account and then simply RSVP for the event at this link. To ask your questions during the hangout or to fangirl like crazy or even to just say "hi" , simply hashtag #CloneWarsHangout during the actual event to make your thoughts known.

If you don't have a G+ account but you would still like to watch the proceedings, the event will be livestreamed to YouTube at youtube.com/starwars.

But remember, if you want to have a voice during this event you have to RSVP ASAP. It should be a lot of fun and will definitely be memorable! So join if you can, watch the livestream if you can, and maybe this will become a new CW tradition!




 - 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