Spinning Roses N' Vines

There was a time when the world was built upon different assumptions. Not better people. Not smarter people. Just different assumptions.

The assumption was that a broken chair would be repaired. That a worn tool would be sharpened. That a machine would be rebuilt rather than discarded. That a man who did not yet know how to do something could learn.

The assumption was that usefulness was not purchased, but made.

Open an old magazine and you can still see it between the pages. Instructions for building a boat in the backyard. Plans for a radio assembled on the kitchen table. Articles explaining how to pour concrete, wire a workshop, repair an engine, build a cabinet, raise a barn.

No one stopped to explain why an ordinary person was capable of these things. It was simply assumed.

The world expected participation.

Somewhere along the way, the assumptions changed.

Now we are surrounded by things we are not meant to open, repair, modify, or understand. We are told to replace rather than mend, to hire rather than learn, to consume rather than create. And because we hear it often enough, many begin to believe that building is the work of specialists, and repair the work of experts.

Yet the old assumptions still linger in certain places.

They live in machine shops where tools older than their owners still earn their keep. They live in workshops where scraps of steel become brackets, where worn bearings are replaced instead of ignored, where old radios glow to life after decades of silence. They live in garages, barns, basements, and sheds. They live in calloused hands and notebooks filled with measurements.

Most of all, they live in the quiet belief that nearly anything can be understood if one is willing to spend enough time with it.

That is the oldest assumption of all.

A broken machine is not a mystery. It is a lesson waiting to be learned.

A missing part is not the end of a project. It is a problem waiting for a solution.

A thing does not lose its value simply because it requires effort. Perhaps that is why old tools, old buildings, and old machines feel different. They come from a world that expected stewardship. They were built by people who assumed someone would care for them after they were gone.

To hold something once meant more than possession. It meant responsibility. It meant maintenance. It meant repair. It meant preserving what was worth preserving and passing it on with a little more life left in it than when it was received.

Those assumptions have become less common, but they have not disappeared. They survive wherever someone looks at a broken thing and says, "Let's see if I can fix it." They survive wherever someone looks at a problem and says, "I can learn." They survive wherever creation is valued more than convenience.

And in those places, the old world has not vanished completely. It is still there, quietly waiting, built upon old assumptions.

Practice Stewardship!

I think Aku considered Jack the son of his nemesis—the nemesis whom Aku had already defeated, humiliated, and watched die. This kid playing with daddy's sword is just a loose end Aku needs to clean up. Sure, Aku still doesn't wanna get stabbed by that thing, but Jack isn't the real threat; he's just an echo of the threat.

Like the idea of the Jedi taking over which always came across as weird, and like a blatant lie from Palpatine in the movie so I wondered why Anakin would buy it. But THEN I read the novelization where he describes how the Jedi won't arrest him and will just try and kill him point by point and was surprised how plausible he made it sound. It went from blatant lie to cunning manipulation.

I also like how it was said that Anakin's bond with Obi-Wan was so strong that he outright started to dislike Palpatine when Palpatine was trying to get him to abandon Obi-Wan to die. And for that matter that Anakin would not have fallen if Obi-Wan had been on Coruscant at the time.

It's neat how they included the subplot of the Rebellion's seeds being planted by Padme and Bail that they had cut from the finished film, along with one or two new scenes (like Bail convincing Padme to vote for the Empire, realizing (correctly) that doing otherwise was their only chance of working to undermine it later).

I also like how Stover has at times a quite over the top and flowery style that PERFECTLY matches the epic scale and tone of Revenge of the Sith. This is a mythic tale of good and evil, and how evil briefly won, and his style really fits that.

Also, I loved the references to the rest of the EU in the opening.

All in all, a fine adaptation.

An excellent adaptation, for all the reasons you've listed. Stover said that, instead of writing a novelization, he wanted to write the novel that might have existed if there were no movie, and he succeeded. Being an EU writer and fan probably helped with that--he's used to Star Wars stories where the novel is the only version.

Since the audiobook has always been the main way I experienced the novelization, I never really missed specific actors--Marc Davis does some pretty good impressions--but on rewatch, I found that Ewan McGregor was the actor whose performance added something that I missed in the book. The book focuses on Obi-Wan as the upright, unshakeable Jedi, but Ewan's Obi-Wan has a lot of sass that adds an endearing level of humanity to him. When he scolds Anakin during the Chancellor's rescue, it's done with fond exasperation, which makes him seem less like the straight-laced schoolmaster and more like a friend.

On a related note, in the book, the crash-landing of the ship is portrayed as something that Anakin does through sheer force of will--showing his heroism and his continuing fall to the Dark Side--which is great thematically, but I like the movie shows the landing as a joint effort between Anakin and Obi-Wan. Instead of just being Anakin's accomplishment, this is their last shining moment as a team, and I think I like that better.

Other book vs. movie thoughts

-It's fun to watch lightsaber fights instead of just hearing them described, but I prefer the book's version of the Dooku battle, with the "I am not left-handed" scheme of Obi-Wan and Anakin pretending to fight with other styles before switching to their real mastery.

-Of course, Dooku's fall hits much harder in the book than in the movie. I get that a film can't show the deep internal stuff, but I wish it had gotten more focus to make it clear that this is the moment Anakin's fall starts.

-I did have a moment of wondering if the book needed all the extra detail, given that the movie was covering similar stuff much more quickly. But I think having that additional context from the book makes the movie scenes work better than they do on their own.

-The political stuff and Palpatine's manipulations are way better in the book. I almost couldn't believe that the movie didn't have the scene of Palpatine recording the moment the Jedi come to arrest him (and stopping the recording before the real fight begins.) With the manipulated evidence, it makes sense that people might believe there's a Jedi uprising. Without it, it's just kind of, "What?" (Also, I appreciate that Book Palpatine has to work to strike down the four Jedi who come to arrest him, instead of just slicing through three of them in like twenty seconds.)

-Padme's political stuff straining her relationship with Anakin was also a great thread in the book. I really felt like the movie needed the scene where Obi-Wan comes to Padme, warns her that he's worried about Anakin, and admits that he knows about their marriage.

-The movie's version of Padme's iconic line ("This is how liberty dies. With thunderous applause.") is much better than the book's. ("This is how liberty dies. With cheering and applause.")

-Most of the book dialogue is better than the movie dialogue. Especially in the final Obi-Wan-Anankin-Padme confrontation. The book keeps an epic tone without feeling clunky, while so much of the movie dialogue is just them saying the simplest, most obvious things.

-I was surprised at how much I liked Natalie Portman in the movie. In those final scenes, she's the one I feel most for. While everyone else is trying to stay stoic and push through an apocalyptic crisis, she's the one who's having an emotional, human reaction. She's crying over losing the man she loves. It reminds us of the personal cost.

-The book gives us a better explanation of why Yoda goes off into hiding instead of getting back up and fighting Sidious.

-I wish the book had gone into more detail with the ending. After the Dooku and Grievous fights painstakingly portrayed every thought, emotion, and action by every person in the fight, Anakin's actions as Vader and the Anakin and Obi-Wan fight felt very much like, "I'm six weeks past my deadline to turn in this book." Or like it hurt Stover too much to really dig into the emotion of these two being torn apart.

-(I was very, very tempted to write a "This is how it feels to be Obi-Wan Kenobi right now" section about Obi-Wan dealing with Padme's death and meeting Luke. Because the book really needed something like that.)

-Even if the movie dialogue is clunky, Obi-Wan tearfully yelling at Anakin as he's burning in flames was done well. It moved me.

Immaculate Heart of Mary

"My Immaculate Heart will be your refuge and the way that will lead you to God.” Our Lady of Fatima (to Sr. Lucia)

The fact that Stratt is the reason Grace can't remember his name at first, and also the reason he remembers it, unlocking his name through a memory of her...

Ohhhh my goooodddddddddd I love their fucked up convoluted relationship and the presence Stratt has through the entire story she's probably my favourite character?? And she isn't one to flinch at a hard decision but who does she summon when she needs to assure herself? That's right, the guy who she's secretly training as a backup for a suicide mission. And she's right about him, he IS too good to doom Earth and he IS too cowardly to save Earth, and so she gives him the very forceful push he needs, he has already shown that he believes in the necessity of it all he needs is a firm hand to hold him in place until all other choices fall away

I saw this when running newpipe. But wait, it gets deeper. I clicked on the details buttons and it said as of today, we have 83 days left until Google rolls out this new requirement for apps inside and outside of the google play store. If any developer disagrees with their new terms and fees, they will be blocked!

I'll share some of the info below:

Looks like they're trying to nuke the remaining privacy and freedoms we have left on the internet.

What to do?

-Get your developer friends to not comply to their new guides

- Sign the open letter on the site and take action by checking out the full resources list on their website as well!

To summarize, this is all daunting especially when you feel all alone with unfair and inhumane regulations comming out faster than improvements but we got this working together!

Share the link with your friends, family and anyone who will listen!