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(It’s the eve of Thanksgiving in the U.S.; no-one around.)
Some things are just too silly not to share!
movies
Final Mockingjay Mood
Final mood before seeing Mockingjay – Part 2 tonight:
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 – Official TV Spot “Mutts”
Love the sound design for that tv spot!
I’ve been avoiding the reviews, for I just don’t want to be spoiled of any book-to-movie changes. Although there’s one big change I hope against hope will be made: I’d like not so many members of the film crew (especially Finnick) to perish trying to push deeper into the Capitol.
Hey, look! We found a thing on the internet! We thought it was cool, and wanted to share it with you.
Attack of the Scones
For the second of our Star Wars rewatches, I made cranberry scones—great with a little blackberry jam.
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup dried cranberries
- 9 tablespoons cold butter
- 2 cups flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- pinch of salt
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 cup milk
- splash of vanilla
Soak cranberries in juice or water for an hour to plump
Cut the dry ingredients into the butter until it forms fine crumbs
Add the egg and wet ingredients and mix just to combine
Turn out on a floured surface and knead briefly
Shape into a circle 1 inch thick and cut into wedges
Bake at 450 F / 230 C for 10 minutes
Image by Eppu Jensen
Geeks eat, too! Second Breakfast is an occasional feature in which we talk about food with geeky connections and maybe make some of our own. Yum!
Our Star Wars Rewatch Project: Episode II
The rewatch continues with Episode II—Attack of the Clones.
1. Best Fight
Eppu: Obi-Wan and Jango Fett on Kamino. It’s cool to have an encounter where a bounty hunter uses their wits and gear to successfully counter the skills of a Jedi, and takes advantage of the various structures on the landing platform (and the sides of the buildings!) during the fight.
Erik: The Jedi vs. the battle droids in the Geonosian arena. The first time we’ve ever gotten to see Jedi in mass combat.
2. Best Line
Erik: “Life seems so much simpler when you’re fixing things.” Anakin in the Lars homestead garage on Tatooine. This line sums up so much about Anakin’s arc as a tragic hero. He wants to fix the world, and the dark side seems like the simplest way of doing it.
Eppu: “Jar-Jar, I don’t wish to hold you up. I’m sure you have a great deal to do.” Amidala’s the only one anywhere, ever, to tell Jar-Jar to shut up!
3. Best Minor Character
Eppu: Taun We on Kamino because of her(?) picture perfect professionalism.
Erik: Lama Su, prime minister of Kamino. Both the animation and the voice work are just a little unnerving without ever being overtly threatening. Excellently done.
4. Best Reveal
Erik: The strains of the “Imperial March” sliding into the soundtrack as the clones assemble. Just a few notes can say so much.
Eppu: This is a little meta, but: Christopher Lee in the movie!
5. Best Save
Eppu: Padmé climbing on top of the pillar in the Geonosis arena prior to some aggressive negotiations. That’s a tough senator!
Erik: Yoda and the clone troops landing in the Geonosian arena in the nick of time.
6. Best Visual
Erik: Senator Amidala’s ship approaching Coruscant at the beginning of the movie. Such a gorgeous ship and planet.
Eppu: Agreed so much!
Extra: Best Foot in Mouth
Eppu: “So have you. Grown more beautiful, I mean. Well, f-for a senator, I mean.” Anakin to Padmé in response to her comment “My goodness, you’ve grown.” Fortunately Anakin’s manner improves after, otherwise we might not have had the romance that gave us Luke and Leia.
Erik: “Meesa acecpt this with mooie mooie humility and, uh…” Jar-Jar Binks, Destroyer of the Galactic Republic
Images: Jedi vs. droids via StarWars.com. Padmé on Geonosis via JediTempleArchives.com. Coruscant via StarWars.com
In the Seen on Screen occasional feature, we discuss movies and television shows of interest.
Some Mockingjay – Part 2 Prep
Almost time!
A roundup of random Hunger Games stuff (but no reviews, so no spoilers) to prepare for the Mockingjay – Part 2 premier:
- Colbert interviews Jennifer Lawrence about Mockingjay – Part 1 via Digg
- Hull Daily Mail’s article lists 23 details from the creation of the two Mockingjay films
- Jennifer Lawrence reflects on the franchise at Collider, with director Francis Lawrence and stars Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth
- Leah Schnelbach covers the San Diego Comic-Con 2015 Mockingjay – Part 2 panel at Tor.com
Image: Mockingjay – Part 2 poster via The Wrap
Hey, look! We found a thing on the internet! We thought it was cool, and wanted to share it with you.
The Phantom Mousse
To accompany the first of our Star Wars rewatches, I made a dark chocolate mousse. As rich as Queen Amidala’s wardrobe and as dark as Senator Palpatine’s heart, this mousse kept us happy through the podrace and droid battles.
Ingredients
- 7 oz dark chocolate
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 4 tablespoons dark rum
- 3 eggs
Melt the chocolate, butter, and rum together in a double boiler over barely simmering water
Separate the eggs
Remove the melted chocolate from the heat and whisk in the egg yolks
Beat the egg whites until they form soft peaks
Whisk the egg whites into the chocolate mixture
Spoon into dishes and chill for an hour
Image by Eppu Jensen
Geeks eat, too! Second Breakfast is an occasional feature in which we talk about food with geeky connections and maybe make some of our own. Yum!
Our Star Wars Rewatch Project: Episode I
Our Star Wars rewatch project begins a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away with Episode I: The Phantom Menace.
1. Best fight
Eppu: Darth Maul vs. Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan on Naboo, hands down. This is how the Jedi fight, not the staid fop-fop-tap of Episode IV!
Erik: Agreed. Whatever else you may say about Phantom Menace, we finally got to see Jedi in their prime fighting a worthy adversary.
2. Best line
Erik: “Her Highness commands you to take her handmaiden with you.” Captain Panaka to Qui-Gon setting out on Tatooine. Less for the line itself than for how Hugh Quarshie delivers it. You can tell that he thinks this is a really, really bad idea, but he’s doing his job of helping the queen do what she wants to do.
Eppu: “What, you think you’re some sort of Jedi, waving your hand around like that?” Watto to Qui-Gon. Delivered in Watto’s bone-dry style, too, it’s hilarious.
3. Best minor character
Eppu: Kitster, one of Anakin’s friends on Tatooine. Very sympathetic young man.
Erik: TC-14, the protocol droid on the trade federation ship. Like C-3P0, more personality than you would expect a droid to have.
4. Best reveal
Erik: When the hangar doors on Naboo open on Darth Maul.
Eppu: The droid army unpacked from the bowels of the transportation drones, unfolding into their full size. I still remember seeing it for the first time.
5. Best save
Eppu: During Queen Amidala’s attack on the palace, Captain Panaka shoots out a window, the group steps out to the ledge, and uses their fancy handguns-cum-harpoon-and-line-shooters to skip to the next floor.
Erik: When Watto tries to back out of a bet, Qui-Gon casually suggests taking the matter up with the Hutts. That’s enough to convince Watto to pay up.
6. Best visual
Erik: Theed, the capital city on Naboo. Gorgeous landscape and architectural detail.
Eppu: The approach to the underwater Gungan city. One of my favorite scenic scenes in the Star Wars universe.
Extra question: Best misdirect
Eppu: Palpatine’s plotting, all of it. Plotwise it’s a step up from the original trilogy, just like the Jedi fights are.
Erik: The opening crawl about conflict over the taxation of outlying trade routes. One of the themes of the prequel trilogy is how momentous events can have tiny beginnings. The taxation of trade routes sounds like the most boring subject for a movie ever, but it leads to the fall of the galactic republic.
Your turn – what’s your Best list for Episode I?
Images: Lightsaber fight via Giphy; Kitster: via fialleril on Pomegranate Seeds; Theed: wookiepedia; Gungan city: StarWars.com.
In the Seen on Screen occasional feature, we discuss movies and television shows of interest.
Our Star Wars Rewatch Project: Introduction
To prepare for Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens, we’re Doing a Project. We’ll see all six Star Wars movies in order, roughly one a week, and for each movie, we’ll give our opinion on the following:
- Best fight
- Best line
- Best minor character
- Best reveal
- Best save
- Best visual
For extra fun, Erik decided to make a dessert to go with each movie. We’ll share photos of those, too. Follow the posts with the SW rewatch tag.
And please join us – leave a link for your own posts, or comment with your own Best list!
In the Seen on Screen occasional feature, we discuss movies and television shows of interest.
Headcanon: Underground Hydroponics in The Hunger Games World
From time to time, I get sucked into thinking about the pragmatics of fictional worlds. By that I mean all the mundane details of how people lead their everyday lives, starting from the very basic human (or creature) needs like food, clothing, waste management, and social interaction. Not just who takes care of, say, the laundry and when, but where do they go to do it, how do they get there, what kinds of implements are they expected to bring in themselves and what is shared, how long does it take, what physical motions do they go through, is it a solo activity or a joint effort, and the like.
For me as a visual person, often thinking about everyday activities and movement through spaces tumbles into thinking about what exactly do these various spaces look like. It’s a way to add depth and realism into a story – we are physical beings who love tactile experiences and accumulate all sorts of personal possessions, and if a fictional world ignores that, it makes that world fall flat for me. (Hello, Star Trek!)
The Hunger Games is one of the current ones in my mind because of the approaching Mockingjay – Part 2 premiere and because of an article on Colossal I saw about a World War II era bomb shelter in London that has been turned into an underground farm.
The company running the operation, Growing Underground, produces leafy greens like watercress, basil, coriander, and radish in hydroponic beds lit by LED lamps.
In the The Hunger Games world, the population of District 13 lives in underground bunkers; the above-ground structures were destroyed by the Capitol. In the Mockingjay novel, Collins mentions various spaces like the armory, the laundry, labs, testing ranges, and farms in passing. She describes these spaces mostly just in very generic terms; e.g., the color of the living compartments is white, and we hear of furniture like dressers and conference tables with individual screens, but that’s about the extent of the detail.
Scenes in the movie Mockingjay – Part 1 show the special weapons lab with a shooting range, the hangar, the bunker, and some hospital and apartment rooms, among others, but I don’t think we’ve seen any underground farms of any kind, nor the poultry farm, for example, that was destroyed in the book version of the bombing of 13 by the Capitol.
The Growing Underground photos of their growing beds fit quite well with Collins’s carefully frugal description and the established Hunger Games visual style. So, in my headcanon, even if we haven’t seen them on screen, District 13’s underground hydroponics now look very much like those of Growing Underground.
Out There is an occasional feature highlighting intriguing art, spaces, places, phenomena, flora, and fauna.
Three Mockingjay – Part 2 Trailers
The Mockingjay – Part 2 premier is approaching! I just finished rereading the novel; now it’s time for rewatching. Here are three trailers:
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 Official Trailer – “We March Together”
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 Official Trailer – “For Prim”
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 Official Trailer – “Welcome To The 76th Hunger Games”
Hey, look! We found a thing on the internet! We thought it was cool, and wanted to share it with you.
Co-Geeking 
