Hi there and hello again, this is your Uncle Kal with a quick up-date. Yes I’m still alive. Woooo Hooooo.

I’m presently working on a review of the book Death Star by Michael Reaves and Steve Perry (not from the band Journey -hahaha - okay bad joke - sorry  )

Look for it soon, I’m writing it as I type this - I’m talented huh???? 

See Ya’ All Soon

Hello All,

I have to apologize again for being away from my blog for so long.  Life around the “Skirata” (well, my real one) house has been “busy” and stressful of late - very stressful. Yes, I’m just about finished with reading Order 66 and I’m starting to organize my thoughts for the review.

I have also proceeded further in The Force Unleashed game for the Wii and thought I would post my impressions here to hold you all over until the Order 66 review is done. I thought it would be fair to expand my thoughts from the podcast since I have proceeded further into the game. It should be posted soon so keep a look out for it.

Speaking of the TFU, anyone watching Smallville this season? Is it just me but when you see Sam Witwer on screen, don’t you want say “Yes, my Master.” Or how about any other memorable line from the TFU. Then there are these questions that come up: Could a Sith Lord take down the Man of Steal??? Could a Lightsaber damage or dent Superman??? Is Lois a better actress then Juno?? Would the Apprentice hit on Lois or Cloe if he had chance?? Would Clark hit on Aayla Secura or  Juno and if he does hit on Juno, is she wearing the high collar of low cut tight tank top?

Lastly, is it me or is it hard to take Sam’s character seriously when all you remember him for (at least now) as the Apprentice for Darth Vader. Don’t you think it would be cool if Nathalie Cox where to do a cameo just for fun!! She could just walk by him, give him a “look” and quote “…… this is my only appearance on this show, so I’ll never need to live this down,” then she just grabs hold of him and plants a big wet one on the lips. Then Superman proceeds to kick his assets.

Boy I could really use a Mandallian Narcolethe drink about now. I’m so glad I don’t partake in this stuff Bummer!!!

Until next time, this is your Uncle Kal signing off.

Hi there and hello again, this is your old Uncle Kal and yes it has been awhile. I have to apologize but I needed to have a little mental break since I just finished my temp stint on the EUCast and I needed to finish reading the novel for The Force Unleasehed.

Okay I can hear you all now; But Uncle Kal you haven’t updated this blog with anything since August 14th??? You needed that amount of time just to recharge????? Well, I’m not as young as I used to be, all night parties went from kegger’s to SportsCenter to CNN (Larry King no less Yech!!!). Yeah I know, BORING!!!! So I have to apologize for keeping you all on the back burner.

So, what am going to do at this moment?? Well, I will be reading Order 66 and doing my review once I’m done. I have an idea that I’m still trying to flesh out that could be cool when I start it and I have other things in my life right now that are taking precedent over the stuff above.

I have not forgotten about you all, I’m just busy at the moment. Thanks and I’ll see you all soon.

This is your Uncle Kal signing off.

Hello and welcome to the second installment about Comic Con 2008. Now that I have been fully rested, I can now proceed with my thoughts. BTW - Iron Fist, you can breath now

<SFX clears throat><SFX sound of mint spray>

One word I can give you is WOW!!! This years convention was soooo crowded.

If by somehow my comments from the last EUCast made it on air ( I am typing this before I listen to show - sorry Austin, Andrew and Steve - it’s been a long day and I’ll explain later ) I’ve been to about 8 or 10 of these Comic Cons in San Diego. I have seen the show grow from a partial use of the San Diego Convention Center to the whole thing covered wall to wall with stuff. I’ve been going one day and one day only, Sunday, because in the past it was the least crowded. I remember walking in first thing when the doors opened with not too many people around ( I believe it was do to the Saturday night parties if you get my meaning ) and still have enough room to breath by 2pm in the afternoon. I’ve had enough time in the past to make each and every isle from left to right and see just about everything. When I was done, I felt that I came away with a grand experience, so much freebies and too much STUFF that I paid for just to add to my collections. I can even see the cool things like Klingons walking around as if they came right out of a Star Trek movie. I saw the best homemade Binder costume from Futurama, Spidergirl ( what a body ), two girls in short - short skirt dresses with a guy walking behind ( I believe that this might be in the show ), and so much more.

What I love about the show,  just the stuff to see. It is a sensory overload for anyone that goes for the first time. You walk right in and you are assaulted with these huge trade show booths from Image, Marvel, DC, LucasArts, Lego, Mattel, Disney etc, etc, right in front of your face literally as far as the eye can see.

You stand there in awe trying to figure out “Where do I go first?” You realize that just about each and every booth is giving away stuff - for free! Oh yeah, it could be a baseball card, a poster, a huge tote bag ( I got four of these this year) a free comic, beer opener, post card or business card, but IT’S FREE - WHOO HOO!

Then there is the Comic Con Exclusives that you want to buy that are limited. Gentle Giant has a Mini Bust of Anakin, Monogram has a bronze paper weight of Spiderman, Hasbro Toy Shop has GI Joe and Star War and Iron Man and other exclusives and so on and so on. You could easily loss your rent from one day here.

For a veteran like me, this show was sooo crowded.

Once I got my friend, his son and my daughter our show badges, we where able to sneak inside before the pros where actually able to get in. I could elaborate about this here but it’s easier to talk about then type about.

I was able to hit the HasbroToyShop booth to pick up the Commander Gree and Snake Eyes/Timber exclusive. From there I was able to hit the Gentle Giant booth to pick up the small replica helmets. Then my daughter and I where able to score the WB Smallville/Supernatural bags then later Pushing Daisies bags. The four of us tried our best to hit all the major booths in the center of the convention center the move from right to left just to try to see it all. It was so hard.

I was able to ask someone in the LucasArts booth about Jacob Nion and Star Wars Galaxies. He said he had not heard anything about the name for the SA from Unleashed but he did say that SW Galaxies will be adding a card game aspect soon. So it appear that Galaxies will be staying around. I saw Unleashed, Clone Wars and Galaxies being played in their respective systems and they looked great I did not get a chance to play them because too many people where in line. If I had stayed to play, it would have been a very long wait - for all three games.

Saw the Clones Wars booth from the outside and was able to get pictures from far away of Ahsoka, Airborne Trooper and Jango Fett posing for pictures. Saw all the new SW Legos but never got close enough to really examine them.

Sorry for the abrupt ending to this blog but I’m going to end this here. It’s been a rough day, it’s late right now and my family is missing a member as of this morning. We had to put down our 16 year old cat Shelby due to illness. It’s kinda sad here because my daughters first time down at San Diego Comic Con was over shadowed by this since Shelby fell ill on Saturday and lost her fight today.

I hope that my thoughts of the Con did not put anyone to sleep. If there is anymore I can post, I’ll add it later or if Andrew or Austin want to drill me about on the EUCast, I’ll be more then happy to make you all jealous

I will leave you all with this thought. For the newbie who is not prepared to go to Con and has no idea what they are getting into, I can see one of two things happening. I can see them stand there in awe at the sensory overload or curl up in a corner and whimper to themselves: “There’s no place like home, There’s no place like home.”

This is Kal Skirata signing off, Good Night / Good Morning

Hello everyone, it’s your old Uncle Kal making a quick blog entry tonight about San Diego Comic-Con 2008.

Now I can hear you all ask “But Uncle Kal, why make this part 1, why not just fill us in on all the fun, cool, sexy (yes there where Booth Babes - Can you say Wonder Woman! ) and exciting stuff that happened in San Diego this year esp. when it came to Star Wars?”

Well the truth is folks, I’ve been up since 5:30 am here on the West Coast, drove about 2 hours to San Diego, found a close place to park and literally after walking into the convention center and getting my ID badge - walked right into a can of sardines. I then walked (with my friend, his son and my daughter) inside this can for about 5 almost 6 hours then drove about 2 and 1/2 to almost 3 hours back to my humble abode, I’m dog tired :-(. It’s late, too much stuff lying around from the con but a couple of cool memories. One didn’t even happen at the con, it happened close to my house on the way home but should have happened in San Diego (trust me, it makes sense when you hear the story).

I going to sign off now because my head just hit my computer desk I’m so tired, Ouch!!!

This is your Uncle Kal signing off. Until tomorrow - Good Night!