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Growth on social media platforms is only a post away. Things were seeming stagnant several months ago. But we hit 1,500 followers on Instagram!! I did a giveaway of one of my Hulk corner box art pieces, and there will be several more of those this year. YouTube views have been frustrating to say the least, but for no reason that I can see, a video I posted over a year ago on making french cleat holders has suddenly taken off. It took that video a year to get to 1,000 views, and now suddenly it's getting over a hundred views a day and has crossed 4,000 views. So I suppose what I've learned is that none of this makes sense, but you just have to keep posting and making cool stuff. |
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Part of the reason I started this newsletter was my excuse to talk about pop culture geekdom, and specifically Star Wars, so buckle up kids, let's talk about ANDOR!
SPOILER WARNING - I am going to talk about the show and elements that are probably considered spoilers, so if you haven't watched it yet maybe stay away for now. But please, do yourself a favor and watch this freaking show!!!
If you have known me for five minutes then you know that I love Star Wars. A lot. There was a lot of hype at the beginning of 2022 for what was coming from a galaxy far, far away, but not much of that hype was directed at Andor. Nope, most of the excitement was for The Book of Boba Fett, which had just kicked off, and then for the Obi-Wan Kenobi series that was set to come mid-year. And while I was indeed excited for those shows and watched every second of them (multiple times), I was really pumped for Andor.
And maybe that's weird. Andor is not the hero I would have picked to build a show around. We know his fate, from Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (a top 3 Star Wars movie for me), so did we really need another prequel? That has been my one complaint about so much of the Star Wars content we have been hit with since the end of the Sequel Trilogy. Everything is in the past! I just feel the franchise would be much better served by moving the story forward. But I digress…
My feelings on the Andor series changed when I heard that Tony Gilroy would be at the helm. Largely known in the Star Wars world for coming in at the last minute to make changes to Rogue One and make it what it became, Gilroy was an obvious choice to do this project. But I've been a fan of Gilroy for a while, knowing what he could do with the Bourne movies, to making one of my favorites, Michael Clayton. Not to mention being a screenwriter on The Devil's Advocate, so if you like that Al Pacino devil speech at the end, thank Tony Gilroy.
But what an opportunity this could be. Giving us a look into the start of the rebellion. The rebellion at its peak of power, and how they would be abusing it to cause Rebels to rise up and fight back. And it almost didn't happen, as the original idea for the show was to have Cassian and K2-SO going on various adventures around the galaxy (I mean, I'd have watched that too!). But when that idea was sent to Gilroy, he passed, but also couldn't help himself and sent back his idea of what the show could be. A show about everyday real people in the galaxy, and how they are impacted by the empire. Gilroy told Variety, "Why not use the ‘Star Wars’ canon as a host organism for absolutely realistic, passionate, dramatic storytelling?” |
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They nailed. I loved this show. Every minute of it. Complaints of slow pacing are completely misplaced to me. As Gilroy said in an interview, "you've got to put money in the bank if you want to cash a check." And that's what the 3 episode arcs of this season executed so perfectly. The buildup and character development in this show were superb. I've watched the heist episode in Aldani and the "One Way Out!" prison break episode 3 times each, and I am as tense in each one as I was on the first viewing. Those are perfect episodes of television.
The most brilliant thing Gilroy did was not put in fan service for the sake of fan service. This show had no Jedi or Sith on screen (that we know of yet; more on that later). We didn't need a light saber battle. We didn't need to see Emperor Palpatine shoot lightning at our heroes. Because a pompous security guard with a blaster and an itchy trigger finger can be just as terrifying as a Sith Lord. Both can kill you just as dead. And Tie Fighters never seemed that scary in the original trilogy, because the Falcon was always able to evade them and blast them out of the stars. But never has a Tie felt so menacing as it doing a flyover helpless rebels preparing for a seemingly impossible mission. These things became more terrifying as grew to like these rebel characters. Unremarkable characters put into extraordinary circumstances. This isn't some new formula, but it's a proven one.
The show is named for Cassian, but now you at least have to give a partial nod to the other Andor in the show, the mother of Ferrix, Maarva. That speech in the finale raised the hair on my arms, but her talk with Cassian before he ran off to paradise with his new found money was heart wrenching. There are so many great speeches in this show, but that conversation with Cassian and Maarva line sticks with me, when he tells her he'll be worried sick about her and she replies: "That's just love. Nothing you can do about that. I've never loved anything the why I loved you. And I've never fretted on anything more, but this time, you can't stay, and I can't go." Heart wrenching stuff. And the subtle shot of her picking up the blaster after Cassian leaves; cherry on top.
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I could go on and on. I mean, I could probably write an entire dissertation on Luthen's speech about sacrifice. And it does make me a bit sad now that we will only get one more season of this. I originally heard they were thinking 5 seasons, which I thought at the time was insane. But now I'd love to have that. But I get it, as Gilroy has said that this is a huge commitment and were probably make everyone insane before they finished. So one more season will have to do, and it's going to be a hard wait. We know the fate of our hero, and the assumption will likely be that much like Rogue One, every major character will perish. But the details along the way should be thrilling. I hinted before about no Jedi being present, but Luthen has to be a Jedi in hiding, right? The Kyber Crystal. The hooded cloak. Him saying the line about being in hiding too long. He's a great pilot with a ship full of crazy weapons. The funny staff thing the guards inspected outside of Saw Gerrera's hideout. Maybe I'm wrong. But I'm sure when his fate is revealed it will be equal parts thrilling and soul crushing.
It's going to be a long wait for season 2, but at least we have plenty of new Star Wars coming! Mando Season 3 is on deck and I am fired up! |
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Not a music recommendation this time, but a podcast and comedian. I've been listening to the Nateland podcast with Nate Bargatze, and we actually went to see him live at the Civic Center in Des Moines last Sunday. Best comedy show I've seen in years! I was in tears almost the entire time! Can't recommend Nate enough! |
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The Lego Video is out and man I wish it was getting more traction. I'm really proud of this project and of this video. If you didn't get a chance to see it, please check it out and let me know what you think in the comments! If you did see it, I'd love to hear what you think or how you think I could have done it better. I'm likely to do more of these, as I'm not going to stop buying Lego sets any time soon! |
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Oh my god, a lot! My Black Panther Wakanda Forever shadowbox poster art piece thingy is done and I'll be posting a YouTube video and many Instagram reels very soon. It's something I'm really proud of as well, and I just love how it looks in the basement! The boys' basement rec room is really becoming an illuminated homage to geekdom, and it will only get better from here!
Also, I'm finally going to start redoing the boys' bedroom. I mean, I better get moving, as they're already 9 years old (HOW?!). But we decided on a Harry Potter theme, so buckle up, because their boring blue bedroom is about to transform into something straight out of Hogwarts castle!
Thanks for subscribing and checking out the newsletter! If you know of anyone that might find my ramblings interesting, please share!
Cheers!
Grant |
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