Lane Hart's Blog, page 17

My daughter, Olivia, loved Boba Fett so much from our 'B' day that she wanted to use him again today. We compromised and went with a different but similar character, Boba's father, Jango (Olivia calls him Jungle Frett which I thought was hilarious - it goes right along with her Bubble Frett).
Jango was so awesome and bad-ass that they made an entire army out of his clones.  Sadly, the clones were used to try and kill all of the Jedi's, so that the evil Chancellor Palpatine could take over the Republic.  Ironically enough, Jango was killed by one of the last surviving Jedi's, Mace Windu.      

Continuing on in our month long A to Z Challenge, Star Wars Takeover, of course I have to squeeze some Ewoks in here.  

Ewoks are those cute little bastards from Return of the Jedi. Some people are critical of their  appearance because they say they were too cute for the role they played in the movie.  I disagree. Even in the movie everyone underestimated the little guys based on their size and cuteness.

One of my favorite scenes from all of the Star Wars movies is of the Ewoks worshiping C-3PO because he's all gold and shinny, while Han Solo hangs from a skewer over a fire. Luke Skywalker has to use the force to levitate C-3PO in order to get the Ewoks to let his friends go. Good times!

I tried to find an Ewok costume for our two-year-old to wear at Disney, but unfortunately all the ones I found were too small.

I really hope we get to see some of these guys during the Star Wars weekend so we can take some pictures with them. 

Tomorrow is our blogging day of rest, so be sure to check back Monday to see what F is for. If you have any suggestions for that day, please send them, because I have no clue what F is for. Slim pickings for that letter, but I'll figure something out. If I have to, I'll use the force. 

Darth Vader was one of the greatest villains in cinematic history. His great capacity for love was his undoing and in the end it was his redemption.

I've probably heard his one-liners using the voice of James Earl Jones more than any other cult classic.

Even our two-year-old thinks he was simply misunderstood, so she gave him a big hug and kiss.

Even if you're not a Star Wars fan you will probably recognize the Wookiee Chewbacca. He's the tall brown fuzzy guy. Chewie was Han Solo's copilot, and often helped Han out of sticky situations.


Our family is so fond of this character that we named our Pomeranian puppy after him. We call him Chewie for short. The name is more than fitting, not just because he's brown and fuzzy, but also because he has tried to chew up everything in our house, and he can only talk in roars. It's a good thing he's so cute.

Boba Fett started his career rather poorly in the (thankfully) forgotten Star Wars Christmas Special in the late 70's. His role in the Empire Strikes Back however, redeemed him and sealed him as a fan favorite.  He even has his own website. 

Boba is one of the clones of Jango Fett, who took him as a son and raised him until his death at the hands of Mace Windu. Boba Fett carries on his fathers' legacy as a Mandalorian mercenary, wearing his scarred armor proudly. While the last time we saw him in film he ended up in the Sarlaac pit, perhaps it is possible that we could see him again in upcoming movies.


One of my husband's Christmas presents.

I hope you'll take the time and visit more of the A to Z challenge participants. You can find the list of the other 2,279 bloggers here.

Don't miss tomorrow's Star Wars blog. I'll be introducing you to Chewbacca, our brown Pomeranian.

Admiral Ackbar is one of the strangest looking and most unforgettable characters in Star Wars. He looks like some sort of octopus/fish creature and came from a water world. That being said, why didn't he have to wear a fish bowl on his head like Spongebob and Patrick when they visit Sandy's dome?

Looking at him, you wouldn't know that he was one of the leaders of the "good guys". 

Admiral Ackbar's (or maybe they should have called him "Captain Obvious Ackbar) quote from "Return of the Jedi" has been used in hilarious memes all over the internet, "It's a trap!"

Next month at Disney World means the beginning of Star Wars Weekends. Each weekend from May 16, 2014 through June 15, 2014, Disney celebrates Star Wars at Hollywood Studios with special guests, events and parades.

My husband is a huge Star Wars fan and we've already made reservations to be at Disney for the opening, which just so happens to also be our eight year wedding anniversary. Our family has picked out our costumes - I'm recycling my Princess Leia dress and white boots from a few Halloweens ago, and my husband will be dressing up as Hans Solo.

We let our 6-year-old daughter, Olivia, pick out her costume, and was shocked that she wanted to be Darth Vader. We found her a really cute Darth Vader costume and a girly Storm Trooper costume for our 2-year-old.

Olivia is really starting to get into all the Star Wars movies and in preparation for our upcoming trip to Disney and Star Wars weekend I thought it would be fun to Blog from A to Z the entire month of April solely on Star Wars. It'll also help me get more familiar with characters and their backgrounds. I may even have Olivia create some Star Wars artwork to post with my blogs.

There's going to be a Star Wars blog takeover this month, so get ready, because before the end of the day, A is for Admiral Ackbar!

Tomorrow I'm going to start the Blogging from A to Z Challenge. Since I'm new to blogging I hope this challenge will help me get into the routine of writing more blogs and finding and supporting the blogs of like-minded individuals.

Click on the banner to the right to find if you'd like to join! Happy blogging!

Last week I received an email from Amazon informing me that I had received a book credit from the eBooks Antitrust Settlement. Apparently I bought quite a few books between April 1, 2010 and May 21, 2012 from the publishers involved in the settlement. So now I'm looking for ideas on how I should spend my credit. I'd really like to find a few great paranormal books to read and help out some up and coming authors such as myself. I'd also like to post some of the reviews to this new blog of mine, as I try to build followers. Any suggestions?

I just saw the trailer for the new TMNT movie coming out in August 2014, which you can find on this YouTube clip.

I was a huge fan of the cartoons and movies in the 90s, and can't wait to share all the old school versions with my kids.

As I was watching the new trailer I thought about how strange a concept, "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" would be to sell. Stop and think about it. Not just turtles, but they are mutant, teenage and ninjas. Who would've ever thought people would become fans of that odd combination. I bet there is some man or woman out there kicking themselves in the ass for passing up on that deal.

I know people think I'm strange when I share the basis of my current books, and the ideas I have for future ones. When my friends and family ask me what my recent book is about, I give them the abbreviated  version like this, "Well, there's this woman who finds out she's pregnant, then learns her husband has been hiding the fact that's he's a shape shifter and that, therefore, if they have a son, he'll be a shifter too." I quickly add that there is this whole genre of paranormal books out there, and some people actually like reading such a thing.

But when I see Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles still going strong 30 years later, I feel a little bit better about the strange ideas in my head. At least I'm not trying to sell stories of mutating turtles who not only walk and talk like humans, but are also kick-ass ninjas. Oh yeah, and they're teenagers who were raised by a big old rat. 

Maybe there's hope for my writing after all.