The Other Change of Hobbit Needs Your Help!

Feb 4, 2013 UPDATE: The Other Change of Hobbit has been served an eviction notice. Thank you to everyone who bought books to try to stave off closure, and to the staff of TOCOH, thanks for all the books and the memories.

The Other Change of Hobbit is an independent SF & F bookstore located in Berkeley, California. They have been around since 1977, and according to Wikipedia, they opened on the same weekend that Star Wars came out.

TOCOH has been struggling financially, and now they're in dire straits: if they can't make enough to pay the rent this weekend, they may have to close their doors for good.

"It is the future you see:" Some speculation about Disney buying Lucasfilm

We will never get this again, but that's okay, because we already got it once

Ever since the news came out that Disney bought Lucasfilm, the fan reaction has been astonishing. Reactions have run between "NOOOOOOO" and wild optimism, with fans on both sides digging up every picture of a Disney character dressed as a Star Wars character ever created for Star Wars Days at Disneyland. Countless fans have said they hope the sequels will deal with the Thrawn Trilogy, with just as many fans hurriedly jumping on them to point out how unlikely that is. And, yes, Leia is now a Disney princess, and both the Death Star and the binary sunset on Tatooine can be Photoshopped to add Mickey ears.

Now that I've had time to think about it, I will say: I've gone from cautiously optimistic without getting my hopes up to fully optimistic, with hopes raised high. I'll give a few quick reasons why.

Graphic Novel Review: Saga

This image, and all others, taken from fionastaples.tumblr.com

 I'd been hearing a lot about a new trade paperback, and everything I heard made me want to read it. First, it was written by Brian K. Vaughan, who wrote one of my favorite graphic novels ever, Runaways. It was drawn by Fiona Staples, whose art had been one of the reasons I enjoyed North 40 so much. The plot of Saga sounded great, too: an epic story that combined elements of fantasy with science fiction, concerning a young couple from opposite sides of a war who must protect their newborn daughter. All of these things sounded good, but I was still surprised by how much I ended up enjoying the first volume of Saga.

People Love Star Wars: Star Wars Fan Films

Chances are, I don't have to explain to you what a fan film is. If you're reading this blog, you may well have even considered making one yourself. The fan film comes from a pure well: people love Star Wars. When that passion gets to be too much, fans join in the saga by adding their own stories to the stories they love from the films, comics, video games, and books. People put weeks, if not months and years, of their lives into a fan film. It's a big love letter to the franchise that gave us so many happy memories.

Also, people want to see themselves holding lightsabers.

But the fan film has changed since I was a teenager. There was a time fans would put on bathrobes, go out into the woods behind their houses, and hit each other with lightsabers that they later added cheap glow effects to on their computers. Then came an age when fans would share their work with each other and collaborate on things like special effects, sounds, and music. Now, we have come into an age when fan films actually have budgets (albeit small ones). With a little imagination, you can feel like you're actually watching a new Star Wars movie (or, if we're honest, at least a TV show).

Who wouldn't want to be the hero of Star Wars? (from Dark Horse)

A Review of Avatar: the Last Airbender - The Promise

 I love Avatar: the Last Airbender. It's my favorite animated show of all time. I love the story, the characters, and the setting. I love The Legend of Korra, and I long to cosplay Tenzin. I have written fanfiction for the setting, and I consider it to be one of the best fanfiction stories I've written. So when I learned that they were releasing a comic series to bridge the gap between Avatar: the Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra, I had no choice but to read it. Alas, it did not live up to the greatness of the show.

Prophet is the best galactic post-apocalyptic barbarian story I have ever read

The first issue of Brandon Graham's run on Prophet begins with an ancient capsule burrowing its way out of the ground. John Prophet emerges from the capsule, awaking from suspended animation on an Earth that has been colonized by aliens. Prophet is driven by a single mission: to make his way across the blasted landscape, climb the towers of Thauili Van, and re-awaken the Earth Empire.

The Highlander reboot starring Ryan Reynolds may be a good thing

If you were to tell me that Hollywood was planning on rebooting a science fiction franchise that I like, and that it would be starring Ryan Reynolds, in almost every case I would be horrified. Can you imagine an X-Files reboot with Reynolds as Mulder? But apparently that rule has an exception, because Ryan Reynolds has been confirmed to star as Connor Macleod in a Highlander reboot, and I think it might just work out for the best. Here's why.