Posted by RobOHara ( @Commodork) on December 18th, 2015 in MainGeorge Lucas loves it when history repeats itself in the Star Wars universe, whether it’s father and son losing the same hand, or generations of characters “having a bad feeling about this.” Thirty-two years ago, the day after I had my tonsils removed, my dad took me to see Return of the Jedi. My throat was on fire the entire time. When we got to the theater, people were lined up outside all the way around it. Many were dressed in costumes and carrying toy lightsabers. When the film began, the theater erupted in applause, and each time something great… (read more)
Posted by RobOHara ( @Commodork) on December 17th, 2015 in WritingI received A’s for all four stories I turned in for my short story writing class, with encouragement from my professor to submit them for publication. Over the past few months, I’ve been doing just that. My experience, to date: The first step involves finding the right publication for your story. You might think that’s as simple as searching Google for magazines that publish short stories and submitting your story to them, but I found there’s more to it than that. First of all, you’ve got to find magazines that publish stories in the same genre as what you’ve written.… (read more)
Posted by RobOHara ( @Commodork) on December 16th, 2015 in Star Wars, Star WednesdayI’m not sure if you’ve heard, but there’s a new Star Wars movie coming out two days from now. For this week’s Star Wednesday article, I decided to write about something that really takes me back to my childhood: these vintage cardbacks. Cardbacks were, of course, the pieces of cardboard that Star Wars action figures came attached to. All of these cardbacks are ones I acquired as a kid. Santa always opened the presents he left in our stockings or under the tree, so chances are most of these were birthday gifts from friends or ones I begged my parents… (read more)
Posted by RobOHara ( @Commodork) on December 11th, 2015 in WritingThis week marks the end of my first semester as a grad student at OU… except I wasn’t really a grad student, and the class I took won’t count toward my degree. Where to begin? The ball started rolling this past summer when Susan asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. It was a trick question as I don’t really plan on growing up, but if I had to, I suppose the answer is, “a writer.” This sparked a conversation that ultimately led us to discover the “Master of Professional Writing” graduate degree program. The program… (read more)
Posted by RobOHara ( @Commodork) on December 9th, 2015 in MainEarlier this year when I was diagnosed with Stargardt Disease, one of the questions the doctor asked me upon each visit was, “Have you noticed yourself falling or tripping over things more frequently?”. I hadn’t at the time, no. The building at college I attend class at is a block away from my bus stop. Yesterday after class I left my building and walked out to the sidewalk, where there was only one person — a lady, 50ish I’m guessing — walking slowly down the sidewalk. It is my nature to let women go first, so I filed onto the… (read more)
Posted by RobOHara ( @Commodork) on December 3rd, 2015 in MainDecember 3rd will always be an important day for me. As some or many of you know and remember, on December 3rd, 1998, I was hit by a truck while walking down the side of the interstate. Calling it a “bad day” is kind of an understatement. It was scary as hell, to be honest. Being told by a doctor that you were literally one to two inches away from having your back broken or (more likely) being killed is a sobering event. The first anniversary of that date was a really big deal to me; the next one, slightly… (read more)
Posted by RobOHara ( @Commodork) on December 2nd, 2015 in Star Wars, Star WednesdayIn the late 1970s, Kenner released twelve unique 12″ Star Wars action figures. The first ten figures were from Star Wars, while the last two (Boba Fett and IG-88) were from The Empire Strikes Back. The line didn’t sell well and was abandoned before more figures from Empire and Jedi were released. And while this particular toy wasn’t actually a part of Kenner’s vintage 12″ line of toys, he was close enough to scale that I always thought of him as one. The Yoda Hand Puppet, released in 1981, was made out of vinyl and, other than a few strands… (read more)
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