Derek: Here's Brandon's final post before he left.
Enjoy!
Hey there everyone. Brandon here. Derek mentioned in an earlier post that I would be leaving for a few years. This is true. And that time has now come. It has been fun starting the blog and reminiscing on good ole stories with Derek. I look forward to this next adventure for me in my life. As the late Bilbo Baggins once said "I think I'm quite ready for another adventure."
But don't worry. I will return.
But for the mean time, if you remember Jace from our Star Wars 7 post, "Is It A Trap?", he will be the one replacing me for the time being. Derek will soon follow me and will also have to be replaced and so forth until we return. Derek and I have some bright plans for the future. Keep a weathered eye on the horizon. After Derek leaves and returns, who knows what we will do. Maybe start a video blog, maybe a podcast -- all this on top of MAKING THE MARK. This is our greatest goal, to discover what this means.
Perhaps Derek and I shall make a video upon our return? The other day we were talking about how fake reality TV is (the irony). And he presented to me an idea his older brother Taylor gave him. For now we will leave out the name of this idea. We will just call it: "Derek and Brandon's Real Reality Project". Perhaps nothing will ever come of this, or perhaps something will. I for one am quite intrigued by the idea. The point is: The future is bright. This is just another step in the process.
It has been great. It has been fun. Continue making the mark, my friends. Until next time!
Brandon: Being the die hard Star Wars Fans that we are, we thought we should have a post about Star Wars Episode VII and are feelings concerning it!
Derek: Naturally...we thought we ought to bring someone else into this discussion as well, so without further ado, here's our good friend, and fellow appreciator, Jace!
Jace: Hey everybody! I'm pretty excited about being part of Making the Mark, and can't wait to see where it leads!
Brandon: So first off, how do you guys feel about all this news that Star Wars will be returning again? (include what you think about Disney owning Lucasfilm)
Derek: Well, I'm honestly a little excited. Knowing that Disney took over the operation, I think there's a new hope for the third trilogy. George Lucas was having a rough time with the prequels (all except the critics' acceptance of Episode III: Revenge of the Sith), and the new Star Wars lineup needed some redemption. Personally, I believe George Lucas had healthy limits on his imagination in the old movies due to the lack of CGI technology. I admire him tremendously, but I believe the following picture sums up why he did better in the 80's.
Maybe his status as a "creative consultant" will be better for the direction of the new movies. Overall though, I'm ready for the return of the franchise.
Jace: A little disclaimer for this one: While I'm definitely a Star Wars fan, I'll admit that all I know of the saga is what I watched in the movies. I haven't read any Star Wars books, or comics, and I don't follow movie directors very closely. But I bet as long as they have George Lucas and some of the original people with them, it'll turn out awesome.
Brandon: Alrighty then. At first, call me a nerd, I could barely sleep. I didn't know what to think about this news. But as more and more info came out about it the more hope I got for it. I mean I had never dreamed of seeing a Star Wars VII, VIII and IX. So the idea of getting excited again for all new movies is intriguing to me. What do you think about J.J Abrams as the director and Michael Arndt as the writer, with Lawrence Kasdan and Simon Kinberg on board as well?
Derek: The moment I heard J.J. Abrams was cast as the director, I knew they'd have a shot. After directing the highly successful reboot of Star Trek, Abrams came into the picture as a promising figure for the film industry (it always helps that Abrams is a fan of Star Wars as well). As with Lawrence Kasdan from The Empire Strikes Back (my favorite episode as well as the highest critically acclaimed) consulting with Michael Arndt, this is truly the best possible scenario for the re-awakening of Star Wars.
Jace: Wow, I'm a lot more excited now! I didn't know J.J. was directing!
Brandon: I know right? I too am excited about Lawrence Kasdan being apart of it again. One thing that made the Original Trilogy successful I think is the fact that different people worked on each film. But you know what, when the last two (5 and 6) were so successful they should have brought back some of the people who made it so magical. Abrams is one of my favorite directors, so to see him at the helm is exciting to me. Bring back some of the old people mixed with a new fresh crew is an exciting idea. How do you feel knowing that Disney is planning on doing Star Wars spin-off films?
Derek: Hm... I'm hesitant about Disney creating them... not because they're Disney necessarily, but that the Star Wars Filming Universe might become too saturated. I loved the old movies and, honestly, I enjoyed watching the new ones. It took me a little time to warm up to Star Wars Episode VII, and I'll probably see the spin-offs, but if the new episodes go well, it might be best for them to just stop while they're ahead.
Jace: If they get a lot of different Star Wars spin-offs going, I feel like one of two things will happen. The entire franchise will either blast off and keep going hard and outdo even the Avengers franchise (which I'm a huge fan of, btw); or they try to do that, and they kill it. I think the first one is more likely, but hey, you never know.
Brandon: I think it's a fantastic idea myself. If one is flop I don't think it will affect the overall saga too much, but think of the possibilities! There are so many characters and stories out there! And different directors mean different styles. Imagine seeing Star Wars in so many different ways! What would you enjoy seeing as a spin-off film? Derek: If I were to see a spin-off film... Yoda would be cool to watch... I think I could enjoy watching his story for about two hours...
Jace: The main things I would want to see would be epic background/origin stories of awesome characters like Yoda, or Qui-Gon Jinn. I always wondered where those guys came from.
Brandon: Yes, I too would love seeing a Yoda or Boba Fett or Han Solo spin-off, but you know what I would really like to see: I would like to see a spin-off about Darth Plagueis the Wise. Explaining the whole relationship between him, Sidious, and the Clone Wars. I mean it's already been so well set up in Episode III. Maybe they'll even let me direct it. I can see it now: "Star Wars: Plagueis" Directed by Brandon MyLastName.
Derek Vader - Image Courtesy of... well, Derek Vader
Derek: Story Time Tuesday! What do you want to talk about Brandon?
Brandon: Derek, (first off, it's Friday. But that's okay, ) let's talk about the time you gave that girl a false name at Chick-fil-A.
Derek:Perfect! Might I add Brandon, did you have a tan in this photo? There's something different about you...
Brandon: You know, it's probably because we are on a slope. Notice how I'm shorter than you in this pic. That might have affected the lighting a bit. Derek: Hm. Anyways, a lot of our social circuit revolves around meeting at food spots, notably, in this case, Chick-Fil-A. Brandon: Derek is the one on the right with the big smile. Wait, what's in your hand?? Derek: I had brought a can of Old Spice: Aqua Reef for some strange reason.
Brandon: I was talking about the other hand.
Derek: Oh that's a good story
. . . . (awkward silence) . . . .
Brandon: Well... are you gonna tell it?
Derek: I was considering it.
Brandon: Well consider it faster.
Derek: Okay. So there was this cute girl at the service counter.
Brandon: For the sake of this story, and to conceal her identity, we shall call her Chloe.
Derek: As I ordered my food, she asked for my name.
Brandon: You see where this is going?
Derek: I'm not sure they do.
Brandon: Well, Derek couldn't just give her his name, now could he?
Derek: No. I was Voltron that day.
Brandon: You should have seen her face."What?"
Derek: Voltron.
Brandon: "Seriously?" she asked innocently. Derek, with the most serious face he could muster said:
Derek: Yep.
Brandon: So Chloe delivered a meal to Voltron.
Derek: The end.
Brandon: Oh no, not quite. We are just getting started.
Derek: I was afraid you'd say that....
Brandon: Derek decided we would go back sometime. We took our tan friend (as mentioned above), Kirk McDougall. Guess who was working?
Derek: Steve? Carson? Ally? Brandon. Chloe. Derek: Right. I was Voltron that day. Brandon: Way to keep up with us here, Derek. Voltron: Pardon? Brandon: Um.... right. Take it from here. Voltron: Captain, it would be my genuine pleasure. Once again I approached Chloe. Once again she asked for my name. Once again her eyes were beautiful. ...And I was Voltron. Brandon: Stay on topic here, Der-- Voltman.
Voltron: No seriously, I told her my name was Voltron. But I thought we needed to take it to the next level. And I don't mean in a romantic way. Okay, actually I do. Brandon: I believe this is where Jonny comes in. Jonny has a very unique way of swooning the ladies. He is more of the strong silent type. And I don't mean that in the smelly way. Jonny commenced to make a paper rose and write a love letter in the name of Voltron Xavier. Voltron: That's right, the Third. To be exact. We gave me a last name and my Facebook life was born. Brandon: Oh yes, I remember that. Born on February 14th, right? Voltron: The perfect day. Brandon: But that came after words. Voltron proceeded to deliver the rose to Chloe. Derek: Then we zoomed to Nathan's house (Nathan was mentioned in our last post), and made a Facebook page for Voltron Xavier III. Brandon: I don't think this whole incident can be appreciated in it's full light until after watching this video:
You will notice that I had a new digital snapshot camera and had no idea it was successfully recording at first. Hence why you might be able to hear me say "is this recording??" Derek: Also, I love the people who jump into view of the camera. It makes it hard to see me-- I mean, Voltron-- handing over the rose and the note.
Brandon: Now obviously, from our last post, Derek and I like Star Wars.
Derek=Chewie Brandon=Han Derek + Brandon= Perfect Combo Brandon/Derek=? √Derek x Brandon= Too awesome
Derek: You could say we are, what's the term? Geeks? Nerds?
Brandon: Enthusiasts. Star Wars fans. Lovers of classic visualistic moving art.
Derek: Exactly (whatever that means). Anyways, so Brandon and I created a short-term bucket list with a variety of things-
Brandon: -including this blog-
Derek: -to do before Brandon leaves on a brief two-year hiatus.
Brandon: The last thing we wrote on that bucket list was:
Derek: Destroy the Death Star.
Brandon: Exactly. The only problem is, we had no clue what that meant. Was it symbolic? Was it literal, and if so then how?
Derek: I decided it meant destroying the Death Star on a Star Wars GameCube game...
Brandon: Yes, that's right ladies and gentlemen,the classic ROGUE SQUADRON.
Derek: Rebel Strike III to be exact.
Brandon: So here's where the problem comes in. We do have a Wii, but we do not have the game.
Derek: But a friend did! So we called him, and went to pick up the game.
Brandon: That's when I realized I didn't own any game cube controllers. So we asked this friend of ours if we could borrow some from him. He agreed. We were set, or so we thought. . . .
Derek: We plugged the game in. . .
Brandon: And discovered we had no sensor bar. I had loaned it to Derek at an earlier date.
Derek: My apologies--although that turned out to be a very good game of Mario Kart...
Brandon: Indeed it was. I kicked butt. Derek: We grabbed Brandon's sensor bar and all was well.
Brandon: Knock on wood, Derek.
Derek: We plugged it in, excited to finally destroy the Death Star!...
Brandon: And....
Derek: "Negative, it didn't go in..."
Brandon: All that had halted us was a blasted memory card.
Derek: All that had halted us was a... wait, didn't I write this first?
Brandon: (Gotta love blog editing) What, a memory card? We weren't even planning on saving!!!
Derek: I started texting around for a memory card.
Brandon: We finally were able to get one from our friend Nathan's sister.
Derek:..by 10:30 at night...
Brandon: We plugged in the game. We had everything now, or so we thought....
Derek: Yep, we were right. We had everything.
Brandon: Then it asked for a memory card. Turns out we only had to click okay. To this day I'm still not sure if we needed in the first place. :P
Derek: Anyways, we started the Death Star level! Brandon: On a scale from 1-10. We were definitely an 11. Derek: Really? Brandon: Make that a negative 11. Derek: Right. We flew right past the exhaust port (which is a giant wall). And...died. Brandon: For those of you who know that that means..... yeeeeaaahh. We're noobs, we suck. Derek: I think our accuracy was 10%. Brandon: That high, huh? Derek: A new record! Personal best. Brandon: Instead of a great dark blur I was beginning to see a great bright blur. Derek: What does that even mean? Brandon: I have no clue. Heard it in a movie once.
Brandon: There we were, standing in line at Orange Leaf.
Derek: I had put a Reese's cup and a brownie bite on my yogurt.
Brandon: Derek had preformed a wonderful solo that night at his choir concert.
Derek: Brandon did an excellent job being the cheerful crowd goer. Brandon: I turn to Derek and say "Let's be fair, Derek, Today you're the hero and you deserve your glorious day with the politicians!" Suddenly, the girl behind the counter says "Oh, I love that movie!"
Derek: It was too good to be true.
Brandon: I wish you could have seen our faces.
Derek: Excited, near to tears, and astonished... If you could sum it up in two words, I'd say we were... pleasantly surprised. Brandon: I asked her, "That's a pretty vague quote. How did you recognize it?" She responded, "Oh, I'm kind of obsessed with those movies."
Derek: It was platonic respect at first sight.
Brandon: I nearly asked her for her number on the spot. I didn't.
Derek: "Only you would be so bold!..."
UPDATE: Brandon: We forgot to tell you what movie that quote was from.
Derek: Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith... The blog makes more sense when you know that...
--blog! So the purpose of this blog is...wait, do we even know the purpose of this blog? Well, not yet... but maybe one day we'll know what it means to make the mark. I suppose that's true. I guess you could say we're just as interested to figure out what that means as you are...which is probably not very much considering you just discovered this blog. Anyways, strap yourselves in and join us on this adventure. ...What he said...
