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modeled point-for-point after Joseph Campbell's Monomyth.
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It's a shame that Monomyth got popularised in the way that it did. A lot of the problems you see in modern story-telling for films, and games, seems to stem from writers slavishly sticking to that (or to the modernised version they use in certain studios as a blueprint anyway). And considering the background it's coming from, the new Star Wars film will definitely follow the formula but it'll be up to the director, Kasdan, and creative to develop the story to the point where each 'phase' in that formula at least flows naturally into the next or is developed and altered enough that they can be used in different and effective ways.

If instead they do stuff like equate 'The Trials' with 'main dude fights a bunch of CGI monsters' or have a 'refusal of the call' purely because the formula has one (rather than because it has something valid to add to the story) then who knows. There'll definitely be some big battle sequence somewhere that's too cluttered with details to have a proper impact though, because focus groups seem to have a blind spot for that sort of thing. My 2 cents.
 
And considering the background it's coming from, the new Star Wars film will definitely follow the formula but it'll be up to the director, Kasdan, and creative to develop the story to the point where each 'phase' in that formula at least flows naturally into the next or is developed and altered enough that they can be used in different and effective ways.
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I dunno, Kasdan has a history of not using Monomyth for this franchise. It was obviously a focal point of the original movie, which Lucas "wrote", but The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi both very much don't use it. Hell, Empire begins a new story in media res and with the hero's main struggle being whether or not he's even ready, both of which fundamentally go against Monomyth at a pretty basic level.
 
Hopefully that'll be the case, but I'm thinking about the director and the studio in particular putting pressure on. I'm also worried about Kasdan himself, his last film wasn't very well received (Darling Companion) and he's actually been quite good with that genre in the past (French Kiss was a good film for instance) so I'm wondering if he's still got it or not. If he hasn't, he might find himself deferring more to Abrams (who as I understand it is also one of the co-writers), who has been seen to use Monomyth, and Disney pretty much helped to make that an industry standard to begin with; they've been using it for decades, so you can bet money that anyone else they bring in for creative, any of their own people, will be at the very least aware of it, if not drilled on it.

One thing to note though is that there's a difference between the original Monomyth that was written by Joseph Campbell and the modern one, which was adapted for commercial use. Because the commercial one has had a lot of success in the past, and because Star Wars cost a lot to acquire and is guaranteed to draw an audience, they'll be wanting to hit a home run on it. That means repeat-viewings, toys/merch, DVDs (or, y'know, digital sales). And the trend in recent years for big budget films aimed at being blockbusters is to play it safe (which means formula).

Another worry I've got is that they picked up Kasdan and others more for marketing purposes. If you look at the prequels from a business perspective, they'll be looking at ways to repair the damage. Star Wars is a guaranteed hot property, but they'll be wanting to maximise the revenue they get and that means repairing trust in the franchise. And a way of doing that is picking up people involved with the original trilogy, as if to say this is going to be a lot more like those films; it's trying to give this new trilogy an early sense of success through association.

But I guess we'll see what happens. Not personally looking forward to seeing old Harrison Ford though; nowadays he seems to suck all the energy out of every scene he's in. It's painful to see him in films nowadays and then thinking back to something like The Fugitive.
 
The Holidays Can Be So Creepy
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Guy I once gave a black mage mousepad is now using it as a rolling table, lol.

 
Time for one of my pet hates:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-30630649

"She says she's thankful to god, but her heart goes out to those who have lost their loved ones on the flight."

Only religion can make someone say something this stupid. You are thankful to god that you didn't get on it, but at the same time you don't see a contradiction that he allowed over 100 others to die. Dear "lord". Think about what you are saying, you stupid woman. It had nothing to do with "god" - it was chance. You got lucky and they didn't.
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I see this an AWFUL LOT after disasters.  It's usually the people who actually survive a crash that come out with the worst nonsense - "God was looking out for me."

If they thought about what that means logically (that he wasn't looking out for the other 100+) then perhaps they'd not say it.  Maybe.
 
You are aware it's steam, not smoke, right?

The big issue with vaping isn't that it's inherently unhealthy, but that all the crap in the liquids is unhealthy. It's theoretically possible to make a perfectly safe liquid for vaping, not so with anything that involves literal smoke.
 
Pretty sure even steam would have an adverse effect on the lungs long term... but this is certainly not just pure steam.  It has nicotine in it for starters....

The point is, it is just trading one noxious substance for another, so I am at a loss where the surprise is.  I've no doubt they are safer than ordinary cigs (although there are a few articles that don't agree even there), but people seem to have deluded themselves into believing that e-cigs are "safe".
 
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Hahaha! This came up on IRC too, but I figured I might as well throw that here too. You should 100% do this in your Pong game:

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Oh ffs. It's happened hasn't it. I checked all the time for eggs on my balcony but found nothing. Now one of these birds (pigeon) has managed not only to lay eggs but they've hatched. I have 2 new arrivals on my balcony now, making a ton of noise. It's too late now, I'm gonna have to put up with it.

how long will they be here for?

This won't happen again next year.
 
I would call thou foolish, but thou art mortal. Thou cannot go against thy nature.
They, the mortals are ignorant and pride animals.

They doth lie to one another, injure themselves and their fellows, and they kill each other all around for sport. Their folly is immeasurable.

- Fou-lu

 
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