Thoughts with Whiskey: 2025-05-25

Current drink:  Maker's Mark.  Not my favorite bourbon, but extremely solid, and a great deal for the price.

• Finished the episode "Who Are You?" from the show Andor.  Absolutely brilliant.  One reason it works is that it's the first show since the 1977 original movie to make the Empire actually competent and scary (the later movies made the Sith scary and the Empire as just their lackeys).  A good guideline for Star Wars is that the more emphasis they put on the Force, the weaker the world gets.

• I'd like to thank Tyrese Haliburton for being the NBA villain they didn't know they needed.  He and the Pacers are both very good and very obnoxious.  Part of me roots for them to lose- the other part wants them to win it all this year so my beloved Cleveland Cavaliers can knock them off next year.

• The House passed the "Big Beautiful Bill" this past week.  Two thoughts:

• Speaker Mike Johnson is, much like Nancy Pelosi and Mitch McConnell, really good at his job.  He twisted enough arms to get the bill passed when it seemed unlikely.
• I'm an old school Conservative.  I like tax cuts, and I think the government overspends.  But with a current debt at over $36 trillion and a current deficit at over $1 trillion (that's over $1,000,000,000,000.00), we really need spending cuts and tax hikes.  This bill does nothing to deal with the debt seriously

• Current game:  The life and suffering of Sir Brante.  Fascinating "Chose Your Own Adventure" type game going over an entire life.  Really enjoying it

Everyone have a great holiday:  Some Gave All 

Thoughts With Whiskey: 2025-05-16

Today's beverage:  Weller Special Reserve.  Probably the best value for bourbon, in my humble opinion.

* The Cleveland Cavaliers of 2024-2025 may be one of my favorite teams to have ever followed, and it was heartbreaking to see them go out in the 2nd round of the playoffs.  I would run it back with the same players; stability is criminally underrated in basketball, and I do think this was a learning experience (though a painful one) for them.  

* Watching season 2 of "Andor" now.  Best Star Wars tv show, even over the Mandalorian.  My plan is to finish the season and then rewatch "Rogue One".    And it continues my theory that the less involved the Force are in the Star Wars Universe, the better.

* I'd chat about politics... but what's the point?  I want my elected officials to be competent, decent, and boring.  Text me when that option becomes available.  

* Pete Rose and 'Shoeless' Joe Jackson are now eligible to be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.  I lived in Kentucky when Rose broke Ty Cobb's record, and he was deified in that part of the country.  He was a great baseball player and horrible human being.  Though I suppose the same also applies to Ty Cobb and others who are actually in the Hall of Fame.  

* Be well, everyone.  It's rough out there.  

Ahsoka Thoughts

 Finished up 'Ahsoka', season 1, on Disney+.

Overall:  I liked it, but you do need some preparation.  And I fear it opened questions that will not be answered.

Spoiler Thoughts after the break:

Thoughts on: The Book of Boba Fett

 Finished Disney+'s "The Book of Boba Fett".  

Thoughts and spoilers below:

...

Star Wars Thought: The wrong alliance

Finished season 2 of The Mandalorian (Short review-  it's awesome.  Longer review- it expanded the Star Wars Universe and managed to show characters who were shades of grey without going away from the themes of the Universe.  And the characters and stories were inrcredible.  Jon Favreau and Dave Filono are on the short list of creators I will trust with just about any franchise).

One thing I kept noticing- the Empire kept advocating 'Order'.  "Bringing Order to the Galaxy"- that was their justification for waging war on the Republic.  That's what the Empire believed- order over chaos.  Which makes sense.  

But that's not what the Sith believe.  The Sith believe that passion creates strength creates power creates victory (courtesy of Knights of the Old Republic 2).  The Sith don't care about Order, or Discipline... if anything, they advocate the exact opposite of it.

So why are they always allies?

For the original trilogy, and the prequels, the answer is- Emporer Palpatine.  Palpatine viewed the Empire and the Sith as tools to use for his cult of personality.  He told the Empire that he wanted to bring Order to the Universe, and he told Vader to embrace his feelings.  Vader thought he was using the Empire, the Empire thought they were using Vader- and both were being used by the Emporer.

But now that the Emperor is dead?  There's no reason for them to be working together.  The Mandalorian gets around this by not having any Sith.  Their opponents are only the Empire.

But the Sequels (cue my rant about the failure that was the sequels)... they just put the First Order and Kylo Ren together.  And since Ren was the far more interesting character... really, the First Order was nothing more than scrubs for the heroes to level up on until they were ready to face Ren.

And that's a missed opportunity, in my mind.

What if the overall arc of the sequels had been a War between the First Order and the Sith?  Between Order and Chaos?  

It would have taken the sequels in a new direction instead of a rehash.

But wouldn't that have put the Republic- the heroes- on the sidelines?

Not necessarily.  The first movie could have had them acting as heroes trying to save the worlds caught in the crossfire of the Empire-Sith war.  The second movie shows Rey's training (the rebirth of the Jedi), as the Sith (Kylo Ren and his Knights) decimate the Empire...

... which forces the Empire to turn to the Republic for an alliance.

Because the Empire is about Order.  The Sith is about Passion.  The Republic is about Balance and Compassion.  

Which takes the Star Wars Universe to a different path and many more interesting stories.

The Rise of Skywalker thoughts

(WARNING:  This is discussing "Star Wars:  The Rise of Skywalker".  Leave now if you don't want to be spoiled)

Star Wars and Villains

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker comes out this December.  The sequels have had mixed moments, and opinions vary on them.

My own opinion is that Star Wars: The Force Awakens was really well made, but the story was too similar to A New Hope.  Star Wars: The Last Jedi was the opposite- it was such a break from the Star Wars cannon that it broke new ground, but also left a lot of unanswered questions.

(side note:  I also agree with Nando in his one suggested change for The Last Jedi: )

I will be watching The Rise of Skywalker, but I'm asking for one thing in the next movie:  

A crowning moment of villainy from this guy:

This is General Hux.  If you saw The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi and don't remember him... well, that's part of the problem.

The original trilogy had multiple villains that were considered by fans to be a real threat to the heroes.  There was Darth Vader, Grand Moff Tarkin, The Emporer, Boba Fett, Jabba the Hutt....  the villains failed and died, but the audience considered them a threat to the heroes.

For the latest trilogy?  There is Kylo Ren (and some people think he'll make a face turn).  And...

Snoke?  Didn't do anything and died.

Phasma?  Looked like an awesome character, but died before she could really do anything to show she was a threat (and this ticked me off- I wanted her around as the dragon for Finn to defeat in the final movie)

There's no other named villains threats except for Ren... and General Hux.  

And Hux has been treated as a joke in the previous two movies.  He stands around, makes snide remarks, and seems to be wrong on every choice he makes.

So do something with him in this movie that makes him a serious threat.  He doesn't have to be a fighting threat.  Show him to be a tactical genius- or a great leader- or a brilliant manipulator.  Something to make the audience acknowledge he is a threat.

To have great heroes, you need villains that are considered threats.  There's a ton of heroes in Star Wars- Rey, Poe, Rose, Finn.  Kylo Ren can't be the only enemy for all of them.  Build up Hux and the overall movie will be better.