"The Path of Ignorance is Guided by Fear"

And, away we go! This episode picks up right where we left off, with the Clones doing battle with the Umbarans. It was nice to see something different when it came to the Umbarans' ships. We're so used to seeing the same type of vehicles in the Star Wars Universe, and I really dug the design they came up with for the Umbarans.

This is the worst time of the year to be a fan of video games. The conventional wisdom is that there is no time to release a big budget video game like the holiday season. There are three reasons for this that I can see. One is that this is the time of the year when video games are more likely to be given as gifts. Another reason is that, at the end of the year, video game journalists compose their top ten lists. For this reason game companies try to have their best products released around that time, much like a film with Oscar aspirations is more likely to be released a month before the Oscars than a month after. Finally, I think this practice is largely in place, because this is the way it is done. There are some notable exceptions. Mass Effect 2 was released in January of last year, to incredible sales and critical acclaim, and went on to win a number of Game of the Year awards. Red Dead Redemption was released in May of last year, and achieved the same thing. These are the exceptions. This year, six games that all aspire to GOTY status are releasing in five weeks. It should go without saying that these games also aspire to break sales records and make everyone involved into gajillionaires. Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception, released last week, was one of these contenders. (Ed. I swear Ben, if you make a Marlon Brando joke, you’ll never write for FBC again.)

For the second year, I was fortunate to attend a world premiere gala at AFI. Last year I saw Black Swan, and this year I saw J. Edgar, a film directed by Clint Eastwood and written by Dustin Lance Black, who won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay in 2009 (Milk). J. Edgar boasts a huge cast, including Leonardo DiCaprio, Naomi Watts, Judi Dench, and Armie Hammer (The Social Network). The film follows the life of J. Edgar Hoover, the first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Hoover sought a war against gangsters, he influenced the implementation of forensics in criminal cases, his achievements in forensics affected the Lindbergh trial-of-the-century, and his warped views on Communism affected a generation. Also, he very well may have lived his entire life as a closeted gay man. A life this controversial and important to American history begs to be told on the big screen; yet, this is precisely why it is so very disappointing and surprising just how amateur, monotonous, and sluggish this film turned out to be.  

"The First Step Towards Loyalty is Trust"

I hope the creative forces behind the show take note of this quote, because, after not airing a new episode last week, they really threw off my trust. Having to go 14 days without a new episode was not good on my psyche, and I was reduced to reenacting The Mortis Trilogy in my room with sock puppets and action figures. It was not a pretty sight, and, lucky for me, they aired a new episode right before I started constructing my very own 2-1B.

And, boy oh boy, was it worth the wait. If there is anything I've learned from Filoni and crew, it is that they will not disappoint. In Season 3, they pounded us over the head with political episodes about diplomacy and corruption, but then totally blew us out of the water with 3 back-to-back "trilogies" filled with awesomeness (Nightsisters, Mortis, and Citadel). So, now, after watching Gungans and 2 back-to-back Droid episodes, we get the first episode in a 4-part arc which looks incredibly promising.