Paul Urquhart (Pseudonym)

Today, I will mostly be doing an impression of Obi-Wan doing a Jean-Luc impersonation. *buycepaw*, as Mandalorian Ewoks say.

@TheMiddleborne @ibmmiller I think I'm maybe more open to the idea that the legendarium contains subtext and thematic tensions, but your tone suggests exasperation rather than any desire for discussion, and it's absolutely fine if you don't want to go there... We do agree on Debicki, too.

@visor_t @ibmmiller To keep the response manageable: Everything. Not a single aspect of her is as Tolkien described in any version

Watching Tenet and wondering again what could have been had Elizabeth Debicki been cast as Galadriel

@swan2swan87 I admit I wasn't convinced by the whole thing (on a practical level, I thought Ruthye's story got in the way of Kara's film, which may be more relevant than its failure to convince me in more subjective ways), but if there's a problem here, it's definitely not the choice of song!

@visor_t The words are "little girl, you're in the middle of thr ride" while she's literally in the middle of a fight where Kara is taking every possible step to keep this teenager from becoming a killer. It's a fun choice.

That needle drop in Supergirl was...unspoiled for me...and you know what? It was bizarre, but DANG does it sum up the theme.

First trailer for Tony Gilroy's new film ‘BEHEMOTH!’, starring Pedro Pascal. The film follows a cellist who returns to Los Angeles after 20 years, confronting his past along the way. In theaters on December 4.

I'd put this single paragraph from G. K. Chesterton up against any self-help book out there

@TheMiddleborne @ibmmiller Much as I love the idea of Debicki as Galadriel, I don't think there's really a "problem" with the Amazon version we got. So I'm asking you what you think the "problem" is, and outlining why I personally don't have one...?

@visor_t @ibmmiller Wat

Classic FM is currently playing an instrumental light music version of Three Lions... And I'm laughing like a drain...

This better not be accurate because WTF DO YOU MEAN Rey’s movie has been replaced with Starfighter?! No. No!

@TheMiddleborne @ibmmiller Is it a problem, though? I rather like this flawed, headstrong Gal, and the way she's used to ask questions of the text.

@ibmmiller It’s both

@ibmmiller Oh, I agree, more-or-less; but there are some patterns of disruption that are quite gratuitous in their scale and scope and stupidity (their "loudness"), and which bring themselves down, either through provoking resistance or simply through their own ineptitude.

@visor_t I think you should always TRY to minimise the second. I just don't think it's possible to get rid of it entirely because of human nature.

...why are Jaina and Jacen about the same height?

@ibmmiller 1. That's like saying a phone call's the light side verison of an IMAX cinema! Also, the wook isn't always reliable. What sources does it say it's basing that on? 2. Have fun! 3. What part don't you understand? Does the "phone call vs. IMAX cinema" metaphor help?

@visor_t 1) yes, that's why it's the light side version :) (also, the wook is on my side for once :) ) 2) Hmm. I'll have to reread the Attack of the Clones novelization again. 3) I'm still not super comfortable with my understanding of loud vs clear. :(

@ibmmiller More or less, yes. I see the clumsiness of the choice as a deliberate narrative "tell" regarding Jacen's state-of-mind. And no. Palpatine isn't Malgus - his psychology is different, his skillset and sense of risk is different, and he responds to threats very differently.

@visor_t So you dislike the Sacrifice choice but think it's well executed? I think the fact that Palpatine didn't feel weak about any of his fondnesses is because they are weaker. Because wouldn't stronger concern have more of an effect?

@readstarwars LEGO often seem less risk-averse when there are relatively well-known vehicles or minifigures involved - if there's an X-wing, a TIE Fighter, an AT-ST, an AT-AT, a Lambda Shuttle or a Firespray, or Grogu or a Stormtrooper, they'll make a set out of it. That may be in play here...

See how far ahead they plan this stuff? They don’t wait to see if it’s well-received to make sets. So It’s weird that The Acolyte got nothing.

First poster for ‘SPACEBALLS: THE NEW ONE’. In theaters on April 23, 2027.

@ibmmiller 1. The L/M bond is binary and equal, fundamentally different from battle meditation. 2. I think Skyguy's showing-off and his effort to impress her does contribute. 3. Battle meditation is loud, Force bonds are clear. Loud is often bad, because disruptive, clear is usually good.

@visor_t I'm not sure I really buy this "loud" and "clear" action distinction, though I'm also not sure I understand the moral valence of both in your view either.

@ibmmiller And yes, that's the difference - I think it was very much possible (even necessary) to minimise the second...

@visor_t I 100% believe that Rome held an ideal of civilization and peace, at the same time being composed of flawed humans who were always disrupting and corrupting and grasping at the same time as they sought the ideal. I do think the empire required the 2nd! Our key difference!

@ibmmiller Do *you* believe both were real? And (even if you don't agree) can you see how I tend to think that a system like psyschohistory is going to be led astray by the second one? I should add that I don't think the empire required the second element - it's not an inextricable binary!

@visor_t We have some agreement there, then!

@ibmmiller Luke is certainly being "loud", and while the droids shooting at them are a justification for self-defence, maybe he's still being louder than he needs to be; but (I don't remember it as battle meditation, more of an equal bond, and) that's not really why she marries him, is it?!

@visor_t (ironically since Zahn's point with VOTF was to try to get Luke to self-depower using the metaphor of listening to songbirds in a factory)

@ibmmiller Yes.

@visor_t Do you believe both were real?

@ibmmiller My answer is that there are two Romes, one of them an ideal of civilized values, world peace, cooperation, which I love in an uncomplicated way; the other an ineffective structure of corrupt, disruptive projects, which looked better as a set of ruins to add lustre to the first...

@visor_t Of course there is a hideous cost to Empire of any type. But there's also huge cost to its loss.