The End of Rebels

No, not the end of people rebelling. I'm referring to the end of the show Star Wars: Rebels, of course. I'm a little late to be giving my comments, but in case anyone else is also late in watching the end of the show, yes, there may be spoilers.

From the start, this show had a pretty great quality level. It also brought the right combination of the familiar and the new. There were elements with which we were familiar (the Empire, the Jedi, etc.) and also things that hadn't been explored much yet (the Jedi who escaped Order 66, the people who lived and even grew up under the Empire's rule, the formation of the Rebel Alliance). And at the heart of it all? A group of characters that functioned like a family unit in order to give us that essential Star Wars element of personal relationships.

The fact that this story took place just before Episode IV meant that, well, we probably all had some ideas about what would happen to the characters at the end of the show. How could characters like this exist during the time of the original trilogy and not come into that story at all?

So Kanan, well, we kind of knew that was coming, right? Still, they teased us by pairing him with Hera to hope that maybe there would be some way that he'd make it through. His tragic end fit well for him: he is so much so a tragic character. He was just a padawan, barely more than a child, when he lost everything. His home, identity, and purpose as part of the Jedi vanished and he was left alone. It took time for Kanan to find what his place could be again--his place with the crew of the Ghost.

Hera we knew would make it because Rogue One had that Easter egg of Captain Syndulla being called over the speaker in one of the scenes at the rebel base. Still, I didn't anticipate Jacen. That next begs the question or whether or not Jacen was force sensitive. If so, he would only be a few years older than Ben Solo--so could he possibly have been part of Luke's group of students? Have we seen the last of Jacen, or is he just there to give a little bit of a happy ending to the tragedy?

Ezra, Sabine, and Ahsoka are interesting. It would seem that we aren't done with their story. This is a way of explaining why we don't see all of them during the original trilogy--possibly, though, they might still show up or be referenced in future films or books. Can you imagine Luke or Leia meeting Ahsoka? She could tell them so much about their parents and about the Jedi before their downfall. If Ahsoka and Ezra return, what happens then? It matters when they return, too. Soon after the Emperor's end or a few years later or decades later.

So, yes, this show came to a nice close. Honestly, I found some of the earlier episodes of the last part of the last season better than the very last couple of episodes. However, I do appreciate that we had a chance to get an ending instead of just having the show get cancelled without getting an ending. We built up a great team of characters and they all finished . . . where they were meant to finish.

The Last Jedi Comes Home

I'm a little late to be coming in with my post here, but wasn't the novelization for The Last Jedi great? Jason Fry is one of those Star Wars writers that I get excited about; he cuts to the core of characters and stays there.

Even though all novelizations include (or at least, they generally include and should include) some extra bits, this one was marketed as being an "Expanded Edition," as if it had even more than usual. I'm not even sure if it does--likely it doesn't. But it feels like it does, and that's exciting enough. The Last Jedi was very much an in-the-heads-of-the-characters type of movie to begin with, so it lends well to a novelization. Though, of course, we still had that fine line of treading: in certain moments, for instance, you hear what other characters are thinking rather than hearing what Kylo is thinking. Interesting that we even hear Snoke's thoughts sometimes above Kylo's. Kylo has to still have some mystery about him; there are still things that we don't know for sure. 

Speaking of Kylo, if anyone still did not like his character after the film, grab this book. It fleshes out everything that the film pushes the audience to think and further explains not just Kylo himself but other characters' thoughts towards him. Particularly interesting was learning that Snoke wasn't using Kylo in the sense of using him for his powers but rather using him to push Luke away--which makes sense to learn because that's why Snoke didn't see Kylo as a threat to him. He just wasn't viewing things through that angle. 

The more I think about the film (I haven't watched my brand new Blu-Ray yet, so I haven't seen the movie since January), the more I think that I prefer the pod-racing in Episode I to the whole fathier sequence. Yes, the fathier bit had theme, but the pod-racing had characterization and it also had my beloved Tatooine landscape to look at. With that said, the whole Cantonica bit and all of the Rose and Finn scenes played out better on page than on screen. On screen, I got the themes and I liked Finn and I liked Rose, but I was always looking for their scenes to end more quickly. On page, it was all very beautiful and Star Wars-y. Maybe it's actually seeing how Rose's thoughts about Finn change with each moment that helped. 

Certain of the extra scenes from the novelization did appear on the Deleted Scenes, like the whole celebration bit on the island. And the rest? It's definitely enough to want to read through this book; put together, it gives a whole further angle to the movie. As far as guessing about what's in store for the future, this book does remain a must-read even if it the same story we've already seen retold on page. 

The Henry Play

If I may, just a moment in time.

I'm not really a critic; that style has never quite suited me. Even my chocolate reviews (which I always stress are my only posts that I even consider reviews) aren't always reviews in the usual sense. I have my own way of approaching content.

For Southwest Shakespeare Company's latest production, Henry IV Part I, I want only to describe a moment, a glimpse, a single something.

That single something is song. This production used music, sometimes sung by just one character and sometimes building into a piece sung by the entire cast. The effect amplified the themes of royalty, duties of leadership, and struggle--and also elevated these themes to become simply the themes of life. Seeing performers on stage, singing as a group, lifted the far-off story of kings and princes from long ago into something tactile and approachable. It's like they were singing the song of life, of generations of people passing from one to the next. Beauty and heartbreak, joy and pain.

I am not overly familiar with the Henry plays. To find, side by side with all of the (mainly Falstaff-centered) comedy of the play, such a tender core brought me, in those moments, to that sort of out-of-body feeling that I seek from plays. That moment when everything seems simultaneously great and small. All of this makes me think of how much (instrumental) music added to Romeo and Juliet earlier this year. SSC has been doing great with music lately, haven't they?

Tony's Chocolonely: Chocolate Eggs

Easter is quickly approaching, so right here I have the first of the Easter chocolates I'll be covering (I don't expect to do many because most Easter chocolate is the kind of chocolate I don't cover anymore, but hopefully I'll get at least one more). This set of chocolate eggs comes from Tony's Chocolonely, a company I discovered before at World Market. This set, however, I found at Natural Grocers. Natural Grocers doesn't kid around with the kinds of products they're willing to sell, so you can count on them to have one or two products like this for each holiday (sometimes they do sell out of them a little early, though, since I think they like to avoid wastefully overstocking).

The style here falls into the casual category. A label wraps around a small egg carton housing a dozen chocolate eggs. Now, even though the label calls them "great big chocolate eggs," these are not big. They're quite small. So I don't know if the label is meant as a joke or if they're just describing them as being "big" as in greatly wonderful.

They do look cute: a dozen colorful chocolate eggs wrapped up. As someone who is no longer used to buying Easter chocolate, it's exciting to actually have a silly chocolate product like this that I can get behind. Because, of course, you'll recall that the main objective from Tony's is 100% slave-free chocolate. The inside of the label states: "Alone we make slave free chocolate, together we make all chocolate 100% slave free. So we ask you to join." Amen to that, eh? Easter's the perfect time, too, to start thinking about the products that we support on a regular basis. I'm not trying to make you feel guilty about getting a chocolate Easter bunny; I just like to remind people to choose ethically sourced chocolate products more often than not until they eventually become all that you want to buy.

So. What kind of chocolates do we have inside of this carton, besides colorfully-wrapped ones? They come in five flavors: milk chocolate (red), dark chocolate (blue), milk chocolate caramel sea salt (orange), dark chocolate pecan coconut (turquoise), and dark chocolate almond sea salt (green). Some of these I have commented on before in other reviews of Tony's. I personally prefer their milk chocolate to their dark chocolate: both are sweet, which to me makes more sense for milk than dark. The milk chocolate caramel sea salt, as I've mentioned, has almost more of toffee pieces in it--which seems to work better for this egg shape than for the chocolate bar. The coconut isn't strong in the dark chocolate pecan coconut, and the pecan pieces are small; they're just light flavor/texture additions. And the dark chocolate almond sea salt likewise has small pieces of almonds that only add a little bit of flavor/texture; the salt almost adds more.

Of course, the fact that all of this chocolate is sweet and even the fact that the flavored chocolates aren't strongly flavored means that it's perfect for a set like this. The look is casual. And these chocolate eggs can be enjoyed by both children and adults. You can set them out as part of an Easter display or give them as a gift. You can even remove the label easily and add a little card on top to personalize the carton. This set makes a great option for choosing ethically sourced chocolate this Easter.

Dragons and Dinosaurs

Yesterday, Sylvia went to visit the dinosaurs at Pangaea: Land of the Dinosaurs. One dinosaur meets more dinosaurs--which means there are at least two kinds of dinosaurs still alive. Dragon dinosaurs and this kind of dinosaurs:

Sylvia chose to have her photo taken with one of the Irritators. They claw at the air like they're playing the piano. This one kept on raising its head to try and intimidate us; I had to wait until he leaned down enough that he would be closer to Sylvia.

I think she quite fits in with the other reptiles there. Except that her eyes don't glow so fiercely--and she certainly doesn't claw at the air as frighteningly or musically as the Irritators do. She is more tame and sedentary than they are.

Bearded dragons love Pangaea.

The Disney Boys: Part 9 - Hercules

Click to read my introduction to this series, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, and Part 8.

Moving right along from 1996's The Hunchback of Notre Dame, we have Hercules from the very next following year. For the nineties being the era of "girl power" and for there being so much focus from Disney on giving different traits to the princesses (Ariel's spirit, Belle's intelligence, Mulan's physical abilities, etc.), the decade also brought plenty of male characters to the Disney bunch. And that's good: we need both the guys and the gals with all their good traits in fiction and in life. 

I would make a comment about how the emphasis with Hercules on physical strength is different from the emphasis for the princesses, except that Mulan came out the following year and Mulan also went through fight training to become her own type of hero. Interestingly, Mulan and Hercules start off on flip sides. Hercules, though he becomes stronger, starts off already physically strong; his journey is learning what it is to be a real hero. Mulan already knows what it is to be a hero: that's what drove her to take her father's place in the war--her journey was more physical, in learning how to push herself to learn a new type of skill set. 

Hercules starts off a little blind. Hopefully that isn't too much of a stereotype there, but then again, his story is just a hero's journey story, so it's all archetype, anyway. Stereotype, archetype, what's the difference, after all? Hercules is born to the highest place, even higher than princesses like Aurora and Snow White. He isn't a prince; he's a god, the son of Zeus, born to live on Mount Olympus. Like Maleficent with Aurora, the actions of Hades cause Hercules to grow up away from his royal birthright. Also like Aurora, even living as a common person isn't enough to disguise Hercules.

He stands out. Born inherently strong, Hercules remains physically strong even down on earth. He didn't have to work for this strength like Mulan did; he just has it. And he doesn't know how to use it. He wants to help but all he does is make a mess of things, even physically knocking over the whole town center. Like so many at the start of their journey, he feels out of place and longs for something more. Hercules feels like he's supposed to be somewhere else--which is quite true. He isn't just Cinderella looking longingly at the castle before she starts her day of work; he truly was born to live up in the sky instead of down on earth. So that makes sense. But notice what else he dreams of. Not just of belonging but also of cheering crowds. Therein lies the problem: Hercules is just a young person dreaming about fame and acceptance. Even when he says, "I would go most anywhere to feel like I belong," he doesn't truly understand where "anywhere" will be and what he will have to do to gain what he seeks.

When Zeus tells him that he must become a hero to regain his status as an immortal, Hercules is, like a young person once more, excited and eager. He promises not to let Zeus down and now sings that he will "face the world, fearless, proud, and strong." Yet he's still seeking a "hero's welcome." He sings about being fearless and strong without realizing yet what strength is.

Even when he trains with Phil, Hercules learns strength, agility, and technique. But he's still just that same young man, only with an ego now to replace his awkward feeling back at home. He thinks that now that he can control his strength, everyone will finally love him. His first encounter saving Meg goes awkwardly and he oddly introduces himself as a hero in Thebes, only to receive laughter in response. And even when he does help them? What does he say then? "I did great--they even applauded." He still has the wrong focus. 

When Hercules talks to Zeus again, what does he tell him? That he's beaten everyone he's fought and that he's famous. Zeus didn't ask him to fight anyone or to become famous; he asked him to become a hero. It is only at the end, when Meg gives him a reason to think of someone else before himself, that Hercules finally acts out what Zeus has been hinting at. Diving in to save Meg from death's grip even at risk to his own life, Hercules finally achieves his immortality. As Zeus says, "a true hero isn't measured by the size of his strength but by the strength of his heart." Being able to fight had nothing to do with it. 

And did you notice? By the time the crowds did cheer for him, Hercules no longer cared about receiving their cheers. He was just focused on Meg by that point. A hero doesn't seek glory for himself. Very classic journey there. 

NutWhats: Ocumare 92% Cacao

Following up with a second bar from local chocolate and candy company NutWhats, this week we have their Ocumare 92% Cacao bar. How could I resist getting a 92%? Such a higher percentage ends up being a test to use for categorizing companies--and when the style of a bar in the lower 90% range aligns with my tastes, this can be one of my favorite cocoa percentages.

We have the same style of packaging this time, just with a different pattern and purple foil instead of red. Using this colorful foil and this type of paper then allows for endless possibilities of looks that will all still be recognizable and distinct. While the label does mention that this cocoa is sourced from the Ocumare de la Costa Valley in northern Venezuela, there is nothing this time about the cocoa being fair trade or organic. Unless we just don't have official labels for this one (which is possible), then those traits don't apply here (it would be nicest if they did).

The color is darker for this bar than it was for the other. While the aroma is deeper, as well, this one, interestingly, doesn't have that bitter twinge. The initial hit on the tongue, though, is bitter (and floral). The strong bitterness is reminiscent of Lindt's 99% Cocoa bar, of which I was never a fan. Past the halfway point, the flavor does get a little warmer and mellower. The flavor notes are plum, strawberry, and caramel. I don't catch all of that. A general berry flavor, which is similar to plum, perhaps, but strawberry? No. And caramel? Generally that's a sweeter flavor note, usually for milk chocolate; I don't pick up any caramel here.

Naturally, of course, if you move on to a second bite, your mouth will already be attuned to the flavors, so the bitterness will be almost completely gone. Yet still I find this chocolate either too dark or just not in the right style for me. Mainly I find it only to have a very dark chocolate flavor, which isn't what I like from a 92%. I like for high percentage chocolate to lure me and coax me and romance me, and that just isn't what the flavor here does.

They did get the texture right, though, I must mention. Texture can start falling apart when you start getting into high cocoa percentages if you're not careful, and yet this bar has the same type of smoothness that the lighter bar had. It doesn't have that almost crumbly texture that Lindt's 99%, for instance, has (granted, 99% is higher than 92%).

I'm left to conclude here that the style of this bar just wasn't my style. Give it a try if you like to flirt with bitterness; otherwise I would suggest staying with the lower cocoa percentages like the Peruvian 82% from last week.