The Age of Star Wars

As you may know, Disney now owns Star Wars and Star Wars, for the last 35 years, has been a money printing machine.  As such, Disney will now supply a steady stream of new Star Wars content for us to buy.  If you're a fan (or a Disney shareholder) this sounds like a great idea… perhaps.

First off, the powers-that-be have declared what "official" Star Wars actually is.  There have been Star Wars cartoons and books and comics and television specials and all manner of fan-fiction, much of it describing the universe that surrounds the original movie trilogy.  Now most of that has been tossed out the proverbial airlock to make room for the new stuff Disney will be producing.  Official Star Wars canon now includes ONLY the six movies (episodes I-VI) and the recent "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" animated television series, now available on Netflix.

Another Star Wars animated series will air on television this year, called "Star Wars: Rebels," which is set between episodes III and IV.   The next movie, Episode VII, is being filmed right now and will be released next summer.  Fans are torn on whether they really want to see the nearly geriatric Han, Luke, and Leia dodging blaster fire, but it can't possibly be worse than Jar Jar Binks, right?  Or can it?

So how much Star Wars are we going to get in the next six years?  Here is the rumored release schedule:

2014: "Rebels" (TV, animated)
2015: Episode VII
2016: Boba Fett movie
2017: Episode VIII
2018: Han Solo movie
2019: Episode IX
2020: Red Five (x-wing movie?)

Random Thoughts 5/10/14

• The Chiefs surprised just about everybody and drafted the one position they really didn't need, defensive end/outside linebacker.  Auburn's Dee Ford will probably be a great player and it'll be nice to have depth at something as important as pass rusher, but all the experts (and most fans) were shocked the Chiefs didn't try to address any of their many areas of need.  That said, I agree with the assessment that they drafted Tamba Hali's replacement.
• The Chiefs didn't have a second round pick and took a cornerback in the third round.  They have four more picks on Saturday, hopefully to use on offensive linemen and wide receivers.
• Five players from the Big12 were drafted in the first three rounds, including two from West Virginia.  That's compared to twenty-three players from the SEC.  Missouri's Michael Sam was still undrafted going into day 3.
• Comic book nerds rejoice!  ABC has renewed "Marvel's Agents of SHIELD" for a second season and has greenlit to series the Captain America spinoff "Marvel's Agent Carter" (which will be run by the people who wrote Joss Whedon's show "Dollhouse").  All of this is due to the success of Whedon's Avengers movie.  In the next year we'll be flooded with various comic book-based television shows, which may or may not be a great thing.
• Other television show renewal or cancellation news…  Cancelled: "The Neighbors," "Community," "Enlisted," "Growing up Fisher," and a ton of other (mostly new) shows which centered around being a young hedonist in New York City.  Renewed: "Castle," "Arrow," "The Goldbergs," "Elementary," "Brooklyn Nine-Nine," "Grimm," "The Blacklist," and lots of other shows, many which centered around being a young hedonist in New York City.
• For those of you scoring at home, the Kansas Jayhawks have lost two basketball players who will transfer from the school: Senior point guard Naadir Tharpe and Junior shooting guard Andrew White III.  This opens up two additional scholarships if Bill Self wants to pick up any transfers or late commitments.  With Tharpe's absence, the Jayhawks will have no seniors on the roster… which begs the question of what they'll do for senior night.
• NBC has locked down the official broadcast rights to the Olympics through 2032.  Bob Costas, the Dick Clark of NBC sports, is under contract through about 2075.

Random Thoughts 5/1/14

• We're in the planning stages for a family vacation at the end of June.  We are heading to Colorado and possibly other mountain states.  Any suggestions for a non-camping young family on a budget?
• Happy Communism Day (May Day).  It's also the National Day of Prayer, which might be more helpful in addressing the world's problems.
• KU announced today that PG Naadir Tharpe is going to transfer.  Considering the number of poor choices he's made on and off the court, often keeping him in Bill Self's doghouse, many KU fans are welcoming the news.  Normally, however, you don't celebrate the loss of a senior point guard who can shoot, regardless of his issues.
• KU also missed out on the recruitment of 5-star high school center Myles Turner.  Yesterday Turner chose home-team Texas for the 2014-15 season.   It is looking likely that KU may still land the top-remaining point guard, Devonte Graham, who could possibly start next year in Tharpe's absence.  The 6'2" Graham is a top-40 player in this class.
• This comedy video, "A Tour of Kansas City," is kind of funny.  It's also a bit crude at times, so be warned.  But it's hard not to appreciate a few inside jokes about your home town.
• I've been enjoying a church history podcast called "Communio Sanctorum."  It's usually about 15-20 minutes and very well done.  I like anything that makes history more interesting and easy to listen to.