Sasha: Can you believe it's been a whole year?
Ariel: Yes!
Sasha: Wait, what? You're supposed to say something like, oh my gosh, no! It went by so fast!
Ariel: But ... I was paying attention? Like, every day was a whole other day with the four most greatest people in the world. So each and every one of those days was nutso awesome. How could that many awesome days pile up and me not notice?
Sasha: I dunno ... I mean, our polyfam still feels ... brand new to me. And fresh, and surprising.
Ariel: Me too! Only I don't know if I'd say "new" as much as "young." New is a little loosey-goosey as far as exactly how much time it means, but it is kinda supposed to be a short time. Young is totally different. It's a feeling ... and maybe even an attitude? A decision? But it's not about time, or else our boyfriend wouldn't seem so young, would he?
Sasha: He's no spring chicken, that's for sure.
Ariel: But things are still wonderful to him, and he still believes in things, and he thinks growing up is for the birds, right?
Sasha: Sure ...
Ariel: So young isn't about time. It's about ... not wearing down and crumbling. I know people do that, physically. But we don't have to do it in our hearts and souls! And being with the people I'm with ... well, that feels like it could keep me young forever.
Sasha: Wow. We're sure lucky you showed up around here, Ariel.
Ariel: If you say so. But I think it was just another decision we all made to stay young. And it's working!
Sasha: Yep, it definitely is. Come here and give me a hug, you! I just love you to pieces.
Ariel: Likewise! And forever, and forever!
Sasha and Ariel: MmmmmmMWAH! Goodnight everybody! Love each other!
Friday, May 8, 2020
Monday, May 4, 2020
Sasha and Ariel Experience ... The Clone Wars!
Sasha: Okay, the title of this post is sort of a fib, because we only watched the last 4 seasons of the show.
Ariel: We're going to go back and watch the other ones though, right?
Sasha: Probably! I just wanted to make sure we were being up-front about not seeing the whole thing.
Ariel: Well, our Very Significant Others did tell us all about the first three seasons though.
Sasha: Not the same as watching, though.
Ariel: But enough so we'd know who Ahsoka was!
Sasha: Yeah, super important!
Ariel: She is. The. BEST.
Sasha: The whole show is the best!
Ariel: Best ever.
Sasha: We may be not at our most objective right now.
Ariel: Um, duh! How could we be at our most objective with our minds COMPLETELY FREAKIN' BLOWN!
Sasha: Those last four episodes of season 7 were pretty amazing.
Ariel: I think you mean pretty FREAKIN' AMAZING!!!
Sasha: I would have said that -- but you're hogging the shift key.
Ariel: There's two of them! And a caps lock! That's a lame excuse.
Sasha: Okay, well, let's get to talking about the show how about?
Ariel: Spoiler warning first?
Sasha: No, because we're not going to spoil anything in this post because we're going to spend the whole post gushing about how great the show is in general so people who haven't watched it yet will go and watch it.
Ariel: Caps lock key is right there.
Sasha: I'll use it if I need it.
Ariel: IF???
Sasha: Fine, I'll use it when I need it.
Ariel: Uh-huh. "when"? Italics is a weak substitute for all caps.
Sasha: You want me to waste the caps lock key on emphasizing a word I'm not even applying to the show?
Ariel: Oh, no, that's a good point.
Sasha: Thanks. Now, where do we start?
Ariel: Season Four!
Sasha: Sure, that makes sense.
Ariel: So what did you think?
Sasha: Stop pointing at the caps lock key.
Ariel: I'll stop when you use it.
Sasha: Oh, brother. Whatever. I though season four was MOSTLY GOOD.
Ariel: What?!
Sasha: I wasn't as into the first few episodes as you were.
Ariel: I wish you'd told me that before I made you use the caps lock key.
Sasha: You have only yourself to blame.
Ariel: I'd argue about that, but we're supposed to be talking about the show. I thought season four was AWESOME!
Sasha: Look, if you keep using all caps on everything, how are people going to know how much MORE awesome the show gets in Season Five? And then EVEN MORE AWESOME in Season Six? And then --
Ariel: All right, all right, I get the point! Yeesh!
Sasha: I will say, as the season went on, I liked a lot of the episodes better. I especially liked some of the ones with the droids, and then that whole set of them that was just about the clones and that Jedi general I never heard of before.
Ariel: That's one of the things that makes this show the best show ever -- it's really almost a bunch of different shows. Some of them about Jedi, some of them about droids, some of them about clone troopers ...
Sasha: Even some of them about the bad guys!
Ariel: I know, right? Like, whole episodes that were all about the baddies.
Sasha: Sometimes more than one episode in a row.
Ariel: Like when cut-in-half guy came back and --
Sasha: Hey, you said we weren't doing spoilers.
Ariel: No I didn't. You said that.
Sasha: But I thought you agreed with it.
Ariel: Well I did, but that doesn't mean I was going to remember it!
Sasha: Just be more careful.
Ariel: Sure, fine, but I mean, season four was what, 8 years ago or something? Even I had read online that they brought cut-in-half guy back.
Sasha: So are we spoiling things or not?
Ariel: No, I guess not.
Sasha: Good.
Ariel: But I did think the way cut-in-half guy came back was ultra-super-cooler than the impression I got when somebody else spoiled it for me online.
Sasha: It was definitely a pretty cool episode.
Ariel: Like the whole season was!
Sasha: Well ...
Ariel: What? I thought we were trying to convince people to watch it! Are you going to get all critical like?
Sasha: No, it's just that a couple of episodes did this thing.
Ariel: A thing you're going to criticize.
Sasha: It was only a couple of episodes.
Ariel: Fine. What was the thing?
Sasha: So, somebody would come up with a plan at the start of the episode.
Ariel: Yeah, what's wrong with that?
Sasha: Nothing, except the plan would have some dumb flaw that would make it fail and get them in even bigger trouble.
Ariel: That's called drama, I think.
Sasha: Not when the plan didn't have to be so dumb. Anyway, that's not even the worst part.
Ariel: This is sounding more and more like criticizing.
Sasha: You're right. I guess I'll stop.
Ariel: Now? And leave me and everybody else hanging about what the worst part was?
Sasha: I thought you didn't want me to be critical.
Ariel: Well I don't, because the show is SO AWESOME, but you can't just make everybody curious about what you thought the worst part was and then not tell them!
Sasha: Are you going to complain more when I talk about the worst part?
Ariel: Maybe.
Sasha: ...
Ariel: Okay, no, I won't. But only if you go right from saying the worst part to saying something you liked so I don't have time to argue with you.
Sasha: Sure, if that will make you happy.
Ariel: How should I know if it will make me happy when I haven't heard what this worst part supposedly is?
Sasha: Ugh. You're so difficult sometimes.
Ariel: WOULD YOU JUST GET TO THE WORST PART ALREADY???
Sasha: Ow, my ears! The worst part is, later in the episode, they come up with a different plan to fix the mess they got themselves into with the initial dumb plan ... and the second plan is just as dumb!
Ariel: It sounds like you're complaining that they're being consistent.
Sasha: No, they're not, because the second dumb plan always works! That's the worst part. They do a dumb plan that doesn't work at the beginning of the episode because it's the beginning of the episode, then they do a different dumb plan that does work at the end of the episode because it's the end of the episode! There's no good reason the second plan should work any better than the first plan, other than, it's time to end the episode.
Ariel: Oh.
Sasha: Oh, what?
Ariel: I guess there were a couple of episodes where they did do that. *sniff*
Sasha: Are you starting to cry?
Ariel: Yes, because people are going to think it's a terrible show and they aren't going to watch because you said how dumb some of the episodes are and I agreed with you! It's the total opposite of what we're supposed to be doing with this post! And you didn't even hurry and say something good right after like you promised.
Sasha: I didn't say the whole episodes were dumb, just that some of the plans were dumb!
Ariel: Everyone's going to hate the show now! They'll never watch!
Sasha: They will if you'll stop being hysterical and we can get on with talking about the good parts of the show. Besides, being critical establishes our credibility. If people know we didn't just like everything about the show unquestioningly, they're more likely to believe us about the things we do like.
Ariel: If they're even reading anymore, instead of clicking away to something else once we started griping about the show.
Sasha: Well, anybody who is still reading probably really, really wants to hear about the show and how good it is, right? So we should get back to that.
Ariel: Okay, but can we go on to Season Five? I'm just too sad about how we ruined Season Four for everybody to keep talking about it.
Sasha: Oh, for heaven's sake, we didn't -- okay, okay, Season Five. What do you want to say about Season Five?
Ariel: Lots of Ahsoka!
Sasha: I agree that's a good thing ...
Ariel: It's a GREAT thing!
Sasha: Sure, yes, only if we're trying to convince people to watch the show, and they don't already know who Ahsoka is, knowing there's lots of her in this season won't really mean anything to them.
Ariel: Well then I'll tell them about the episode where she --
Sasha: Wait! Are you about to spoil something?
Ariel: Oops ... um ... okay, so I'll tell them about the incredible lightsaber fight she had with --
Sasha: Whoa! Do you really want to give away the fact that she fights that person?
Ariel: Well -- well --
Sasha: Look, how about this. You remember that episode where (whisper, whisper) showed up?
Ariel: Oh my gosh, yes. That was SO INTERESTING seeing him before he --
Sasha: Ariel, how long have we been doing this, and you haven't got the hang of talking about things without spoiling them?
Ariel: Sorry, we always put the spoiler blanket warning up! I don't have that much practice not spoiling things.
Sasha: You just have to be more general, like, say how in Season Five there are a lot of episodes that feature characters who have important roles either in later movies or in earlier ones. So you get to see a bigger part of their story than just watching the movies.
Ariel: Well, I can't say that because you just said it.
Sasha: But you can say something like that.
Ariel: I guess.
Sasha: Give it a try.
Ariel: Um. Something ... like ... oh, I know! Remember the Rogue One movie and the Solo movie and how they were individual stories on their own?
Sasha: Of course I do!
Ariel: And also, remember how there were gaps between a lot of the movies, where years passed and stuff and there were big old mysteries kind of left hanging that never got explained?
Sasha: Uh-huh.
Ariel: Well, somewhat in Season Four but a lot in Season Five and then a TON in Seasons Six and Seven, there are episodes that tie things together and let you see how some of the groups and organizations from one movie or set of movies fit in with another movie or set of movies. And they usually do it with a COOL-ASS exciting story where there's lots of great action and animation.
Sasha: There you go, that's the ticket.
Ariel: OH! And speaking of the animation, the longer the series goes on, the more TOTALLY KICK-BUTT it becomes. I mean, like, by the end of Season Seven there's scenes that put my jaw all the way on the floor, it dropped so hard.
Sasha: The music gets better and better too.
Ariel: I know, right? Just like the stories are weaving all these pieces from the 11 movies together, the soundtrack starts weaving in lots of musical themes from the movies too.
Sasha: Sometimes in really subtle ways, I thought.
Ariel: Right!
Sasha: And what about (whisper, whisper) and (whisper, whisper)?
Ariel: Ohmygosh, I thought both of them were sorta lame in the movies, but they were really fun together in that set of Season Six episodes!
Sasha: I mean, basically, when you add all the Clone Wars episodes together, it's five times as much Star Wars as in all the Star Wars movies we've watched. So there's just SO much more they can explore within the Star Wars universe.
Ariel: That really sums it up. You're so smart, Sash.
Sasha: Thanks, but you're smart too. Or else you wouldn't love Star Wars so much, right?
Ariel: Hmm. I'm not sure if maybe there's a flaw in that logic, but I'll take it.
Sasha: So does that wrap up most of what we wanted to say about the show?
Ariel: Almost. Except for ...
Sasha: Except for what?
Ariel: Except for OH MY GOD YOU PEOPLE THE CLONE WARS IS SO GOOD ESPECIALLY SEASON SEVEN ESPECIALLY THE LAST FOUR EPISODES OF SEASON SEVEN IT'S LIKE SOME OF THE ABSOLUTE BEST STAR WARS STUFF EVER AND YOU REALLY REALLY REALLY HAVE TO WATCH IT!
Sasha: You are such a caps hog.
Ariel: Sorry.
Sasha: But she's right, everybody. GO WATCH CLONE WARS!
Ariel: Yay! I'm proud of you, Sash.
Sasha: Thanks.
Ariel: Goodnight, everybody!
Sasha: G'night!
Ariel: We're going to go back and watch the other ones though, right?
Sasha: Probably! I just wanted to make sure we were being up-front about not seeing the whole thing.
Ariel: Well, our Very Significant Others did tell us all about the first three seasons though.
Sasha: Not the same as watching, though.
Ariel: But enough so we'd know who Ahsoka was!
Sasha: Yeah, super important!
Ariel: She is. The. BEST.
Sasha: The whole show is the best!
Ariel: Best ever.
Sasha: We may be not at our most objective right now.
Ariel: Um, duh! How could we be at our most objective with our minds COMPLETELY FREAKIN' BLOWN!
Sasha: Those last four episodes of season 7 were pretty amazing.
Ariel: I think you mean pretty FREAKIN' AMAZING!!!
Sasha: I would have said that -- but you're hogging the shift key.
Ariel: There's two of them! And a caps lock! That's a lame excuse.
Sasha: Okay, well, let's get to talking about the show how about?
Ariel: Spoiler warning first?
Sasha: No, because we're not going to spoil anything in this post because we're going to spend the whole post gushing about how great the show is in general so people who haven't watched it yet will go and watch it.
Ariel: Caps lock key is right there.
Sasha: I'll use it if I need it.
Ariel: IF???
Sasha: Fine, I'll use it when I need it.
Ariel: Uh-huh. "when"? Italics is a weak substitute for all caps.
Sasha: You want me to waste the caps lock key on emphasizing a word I'm not even applying to the show?
Ariel: Oh, no, that's a good point.
Sasha: Thanks. Now, where do we start?
Ariel: Season Four!
Sasha: Sure, that makes sense.
Ariel: So what did you think?
Sasha: Stop pointing at the caps lock key.
Ariel: I'll stop when you use it.
Sasha: Oh, brother. Whatever. I though season four was MOSTLY GOOD.
Ariel: What?!
Sasha: I wasn't as into the first few episodes as you were.
Ariel: I wish you'd told me that before I made you use the caps lock key.
Sasha: You have only yourself to blame.
Ariel: I'd argue about that, but we're supposed to be talking about the show. I thought season four was AWESOME!
Sasha: Look, if you keep using all caps on everything, how are people going to know how much MORE awesome the show gets in Season Five? And then EVEN MORE AWESOME in Season Six? And then --
Ariel: All right, all right, I get the point! Yeesh!
Sasha: I will say, as the season went on, I liked a lot of the episodes better. I especially liked some of the ones with the droids, and then that whole set of them that was just about the clones and that Jedi general I never heard of before.
Ariel: That's one of the things that makes this show the best show ever -- it's really almost a bunch of different shows. Some of them about Jedi, some of them about droids, some of them about clone troopers ...
Sasha: Even some of them about the bad guys!
Ariel: I know, right? Like, whole episodes that were all about the baddies.
Sasha: Sometimes more than one episode in a row.
Ariel: Like when cut-in-half guy came back and --
Sasha: Hey, you said we weren't doing spoilers.
Ariel: No I didn't. You said that.
Sasha: But I thought you agreed with it.
Ariel: Well I did, but that doesn't mean I was going to remember it!
Sasha: Just be more careful.
Ariel: Sure, fine, but I mean, season four was what, 8 years ago or something? Even I had read online that they brought cut-in-half guy back.
Sasha: So are we spoiling things or not?
Ariel: No, I guess not.
Sasha: Good.
Ariel: But I did think the way cut-in-half guy came back was ultra-super-cooler than the impression I got when somebody else spoiled it for me online.
Sasha: It was definitely a pretty cool episode.
Ariel: Like the whole season was!
Sasha: Well ...
Ariel: What? I thought we were trying to convince people to watch it! Are you going to get all critical like?
Sasha: No, it's just that a couple of episodes did this thing.
Ariel: A thing you're going to criticize.
Sasha: It was only a couple of episodes.
Ariel: Fine. What was the thing?
Sasha: So, somebody would come up with a plan at the start of the episode.
Ariel: Yeah, what's wrong with that?
Sasha: Nothing, except the plan would have some dumb flaw that would make it fail and get them in even bigger trouble.
Ariel: That's called drama, I think.
Sasha: Not when the plan didn't have to be so dumb. Anyway, that's not even the worst part.
Ariel: This is sounding more and more like criticizing.
Sasha: You're right. I guess I'll stop.
Ariel: Now? And leave me and everybody else hanging about what the worst part was?
Sasha: I thought you didn't want me to be critical.
Ariel: Well I don't, because the show is SO AWESOME, but you can't just make everybody curious about what you thought the worst part was and then not tell them!
Sasha: Are you going to complain more when I talk about the worst part?
Ariel: Maybe.
Sasha: ...
Ariel: Okay, no, I won't. But only if you go right from saying the worst part to saying something you liked so I don't have time to argue with you.
Sasha: Sure, if that will make you happy.
Ariel: How should I know if it will make me happy when I haven't heard what this worst part supposedly is?
Sasha: Ugh. You're so difficult sometimes.
Ariel: WOULD YOU JUST GET TO THE WORST PART ALREADY???
Sasha: Ow, my ears! The worst part is, later in the episode, they come up with a different plan to fix the mess they got themselves into with the initial dumb plan ... and the second plan is just as dumb!
Ariel: It sounds like you're complaining that they're being consistent.
Sasha: No, they're not, because the second dumb plan always works! That's the worst part. They do a dumb plan that doesn't work at the beginning of the episode because it's the beginning of the episode, then they do a different dumb plan that does work at the end of the episode because it's the end of the episode! There's no good reason the second plan should work any better than the first plan, other than, it's time to end the episode.
Ariel: Oh.
Sasha: Oh, what?
Ariel: I guess there were a couple of episodes where they did do that. *sniff*
Sasha: Are you starting to cry?
Ariel: Yes, because people are going to think it's a terrible show and they aren't going to watch because you said how dumb some of the episodes are and I agreed with you! It's the total opposite of what we're supposed to be doing with this post! And you didn't even hurry and say something good right after like you promised.
Sasha: I didn't say the whole episodes were dumb, just that some of the plans were dumb!
Ariel: Everyone's going to hate the show now! They'll never watch!
Sasha: They will if you'll stop being hysterical and we can get on with talking about the good parts of the show. Besides, being critical establishes our credibility. If people know we didn't just like everything about the show unquestioningly, they're more likely to believe us about the things we do like.
Ariel: If they're even reading anymore, instead of clicking away to something else once we started griping about the show.
Sasha: Well, anybody who is still reading probably really, really wants to hear about the show and how good it is, right? So we should get back to that.
Ariel: Okay, but can we go on to Season Five? I'm just too sad about how we ruined Season Four for everybody to keep talking about it.
Sasha: Oh, for heaven's sake, we didn't -- okay, okay, Season Five. What do you want to say about Season Five?
Ariel: Lots of Ahsoka!
Sasha: I agree that's a good thing ...
Ariel: It's a GREAT thing!
Sasha: Sure, yes, only if we're trying to convince people to watch the show, and they don't already know who Ahsoka is, knowing there's lots of her in this season won't really mean anything to them.
Ariel: Well then I'll tell them about the episode where she --
Sasha: Wait! Are you about to spoil something?
Ariel: Oops ... um ... okay, so I'll tell them about the incredible lightsaber fight she had with --
Sasha: Whoa! Do you really want to give away the fact that she fights that person?
Ariel: Well -- well --
Sasha: Look, how about this. You remember that episode where (whisper, whisper) showed up?
Ariel: Oh my gosh, yes. That was SO INTERESTING seeing him before he --
Sasha: Ariel, how long have we been doing this, and you haven't got the hang of talking about things without spoiling them?
Ariel: Sorry, we always put the spoiler blanket warning up! I don't have that much practice not spoiling things.
Sasha: You just have to be more general, like, say how in Season Five there are a lot of episodes that feature characters who have important roles either in later movies or in earlier ones. So you get to see a bigger part of their story than just watching the movies.
Ariel: Well, I can't say that because you just said it.
Sasha: But you can say something like that.
Ariel: I guess.
Sasha: Give it a try.
Ariel: Um. Something ... like ... oh, I know! Remember the Rogue One movie and the Solo movie and how they were individual stories on their own?
Sasha: Of course I do!
Ariel: And also, remember how there were gaps between a lot of the movies, where years passed and stuff and there were big old mysteries kind of left hanging that never got explained?
Sasha: Uh-huh.
Ariel: Well, somewhat in Season Four but a lot in Season Five and then a TON in Seasons Six and Seven, there are episodes that tie things together and let you see how some of the groups and organizations from one movie or set of movies fit in with another movie or set of movies. And they usually do it with a COOL-ASS exciting story where there's lots of great action and animation.
Sasha: There you go, that's the ticket.
Ariel: OH! And speaking of the animation, the longer the series goes on, the more TOTALLY KICK-BUTT it becomes. I mean, like, by the end of Season Seven there's scenes that put my jaw all the way on the floor, it dropped so hard.
Sasha: The music gets better and better too.
Ariel: I know, right? Just like the stories are weaving all these pieces from the 11 movies together, the soundtrack starts weaving in lots of musical themes from the movies too.
Sasha: Sometimes in really subtle ways, I thought.
Ariel: Right!
Sasha: And what about (whisper, whisper) and (whisper, whisper)?
Ariel: Ohmygosh, I thought both of them were sorta lame in the movies, but they were really fun together in that set of Season Six episodes!
Sasha: I mean, basically, when you add all the Clone Wars episodes together, it's five times as much Star Wars as in all the Star Wars movies we've watched. So there's just SO much more they can explore within the Star Wars universe.
Ariel: That really sums it up. You're so smart, Sash.
Sasha: Thanks, but you're smart too. Or else you wouldn't love Star Wars so much, right?
Ariel: Hmm. I'm not sure if maybe there's a flaw in that logic, but I'll take it.
Sasha: So does that wrap up most of what we wanted to say about the show?
Ariel: Almost. Except for ...
Sasha: Except for what?
Ariel: Except for OH MY GOD YOU PEOPLE THE CLONE WARS IS SO GOOD ESPECIALLY SEASON SEVEN ESPECIALLY THE LAST FOUR EPISODES OF SEASON SEVEN IT'S LIKE SOME OF THE ABSOLUTE BEST STAR WARS STUFF EVER AND YOU REALLY REALLY REALLY HAVE TO WATCH IT!
Sasha: You are such a caps hog.
Ariel: Sorry.
Sasha: But she's right, everybody. GO WATCH CLONE WARS!
Ariel: Yay! I'm proud of you, Sash.
Sasha: Thanks.
Ariel: Goodnight, everybody!
Sasha: G'night!