The kids and I have been doing videos about working on our Star Wars movie. I think it’s high time to tell that story. In April 2013, NJ and I had been dating for about two years. I had effectively moved in, and I had been interacting with the kids for about 18 months, but still hadn’t fully shifted into “parent” mode. It was very much NJ and the kids, and me. We had just brought Leo to live with us a matter of weeks earlier. Our little fstar waramily…
Tag: star wars
Rogue One Review [SPOILERS]
A null result doesn’t mean a failed experiment I came into Rogue One: A Star Wars Story already a little bit salty. A child of the ‘90s, I have bitterly complained that I already knew the story of stealing the Death Star plans. In fact, I did it – I played that video game and the several that came after it, embodying the mercenary-cum-Rebel-hero Kyle Katarn, working with his partner Jan Ors to get the schematics to the Rebellion and then disrupt the Dark Trooper project. The game was Dark…
Perfectionism, Projects, and Parenting
I used to suffer pretty obvious perfectionism, through a combination of talent and insecurity. When I was in high school, if I couldn’t do something super well, I’d stop bothering to try. University was hard, and as you might imagine, my time there was less than illustrious. There are elements of perfectionism in my girls, as well. DD8, my Little Fish, is one. She will often bang her head against a problem until she either batters it down through sheer force of will, or melt down in the process. The littlest,…
Many Roads Lead to Rome
True to the name of this blog, we frequently make things as a family. Often I’m part of the process, but when my eldest, 8, came to me the other day, I encountered a new angle that I hadn’t expected. “Trevor, I want to make a craft with you,” she said. “I need your help.” “Okay, little fish,” I said. “What do you want to make?” Her eagerness turned into despair. “That’s why I need your help. I don’t know what I want to make.” This is an experience I…
Star Trek is more important than Star Wars, and here’s why.
The Force Awakens opens in less than a week, and yet I can’t help but be just as excited for the Star Trek: Beyond trailer that’s going to precede it. Part of this is just the kind of nerd I am – I grew up at a particular time in the ‘90s when there was no Star Wars except for the odd broadcast or the Special Editions, but there were two Star Trek series on television and movies in the theatres. Now, there’s tons of quality Star Wars entertainment. Just…
Kids’ Sabine Wren costume, part 2: Blasters
Read Part One, in which we make most of the upper-body armour. One of my favourite techniques as a classroom teacher is project-based learning. As it turns out, it’s becoming one of my favourite things about being a parent, as well. Tonight, Little Fish and I began work on patterning Sabine’s blasters while NJ prototyped Whistler’s Jennifire makeup. Our main job was scaling the design to fit her tiny hands. We started by measuring Sabine’s hand in a screen capture. As it turned out, her hand, measured across the knuckles,…
Kids’ Sabine Wren costume, part 1
My Little Fish announced her Halloween plans for this year with much the same gusto as last year’s Quorra costumes: she wanted to be Sabine Wren, one of the main characters in last year’s new Disney cartoon, Star Wars Rebels. The Mandalorian armour worn by Sabine means that I will need to learn at least two new skills for the build (foam fabrication, fibreglassing) and much better develop a third (sculpting) and a fourth (mold making). It’s a little daunting, but I’m all in on it. And we’re buckling and…
#mo365 Day 12
I’ve been on my own with the kids a lot lately. Particularly this weekend, while my director girlfriend has been off being a director. Now, that’s not a bad thing. A lot of the time I cherish my one-on-one time with the kids. It’s a privelege and a gift to be able to spend quality time on my own with them as someone who came into their lives at a relatively late stage in the game. Still, something about today has been particularly rough. Something in the air. Maybe the…
Sunday Reading 18/02/2013
It’s Sunday, right? No? Well it’s PRACTICALLY Sunday. Here in sunny, snowy Ontario it’s Family Day, which means my students are off doing something other than school and the tiny people here are playing house. That’s right, folks–a long weekend. And here’s something to fill a) your holiday with some compelling stuff or b) to give your brain a break when you’re stuck at work. Giant LEGO X-Wing Might Be The Coolest LEGO Set Ever Made – Luke Plunkett, Kotaku I had to lead with this because of my recent…
Sunday Reading 10/02/2013
Good morning folks! The plan for this morning was to sleep in, but there was one three-year-old and one five-year-old who had other plans entirely. Thus, instead of sleeping in there was laundry and cleaning and blogging and very soon a workout. Let’s round up the week together. Microsoft Surface Pro Review – David Pierce, The Verge Oh man oh man oh man. I’m psyched about the Surface. You’ll remember how much I love Windows Phone and how I was pretty thrilled to experiment with Windows 8 on my old…
Star Wars Anniversary
It was roughly 2003. I was in ninth grade, and my friend Chris, several years older, approached me for help with his short film. He called it Star Wars: The Gifted, and it was an attempt to bring Star Wars into the real world (as we know it). There’s a slow and ongoing effort to remaster the film, to build out the bones of the larger story that we had initially planned. But more important than the film itself or the story behind it is what it represents. It was…
#saturdayofficedoodles: crossover
Time to share today’s #saturdayofficedoodles! Via @Peady, on Twitter, who requested “something happy:” And for Alex, on Facebook, who wanted to see Spock and Obi-Wan meeting: That Vulcan Science Directorate spoils everyone’s parade. Paddle your own canoe, folks. Trevor #saturdayofficedoodles is Trevor’s crowd-sourced way to pass some time during a slow Saturday at work. Tweet him @trevor_ccw.