Contest recap, Beermas, and the Festival of Lightsabers 2018

I recently added another piece to my Darth Vader custom booklet.

Here's one of the sides when it's folded up.

Here's the other side.

And here it is opened up. Jake Lloyd as lil' Anakin is the new addition. I didn't have to make a custom overlay for it, as the original card works well enough.

I'm still on the lookout for a Hayden Christensen auto card that'll work (and at a good price), and after that I will consider the booklet complete, as those are the 4 main guys to portray the character.


This year is the 12th Annual Festival of Lightsabers in my house. It's where I have myself (well, my wife is along for the ride) a Star Wars film festival during the week between Christmas and New Years. I've actually kept records on the Festival throughout the years, so in case anyone is curious, here's how it has gone down:

FESTIVAL OF LIGHTSABERS : history

2007 - 1st Annual Festival of Lightsabers
I, II, III
IV, V, VI - special editions

2008 - 2nd Annual Festival of Lightsabers
I II III
IV V VI - original theatrical versions
Ewok movies

2009 - 3rd Annual Festival of Lightsabers
I II III
IV V VI - theatrical

2010 - 4th Annual Festival of Lightsabers
I [The Phantom Edit fan edit]
II [Attack of the Phantom fan edit]
III [regular]
IV V VI - special editions
Robot Chicken star wars special I
Family Guy - something something dark side [empire]
Star Wars Holiday Special w/ Rifftrax commentary

2011 - 5th Annual Festival of Lightsabers
Family Guy - It's a Trap [Jedi]
Clone Wars II animated film
III
IV V VI - original theatrical versions
Family Guy - Something, Something Dark Side [Empire]

2012 - 6th Annual Festival of Lightsabers
Rifftrax prequels
Trilogy special editions

2013 - 7th Annual Festival of Lightsabers
New Hope [original]
Empire [original]
Clones
Sith
Family Guy (New Hope)
Jedi [original]

2014 - 8th Annual Festival of Lightsabers
I, II, III
IV, V, VI - special editions

2015 - 9th Annual Festival of Lightsabers
IV - special edition
V - special edition
II "Attack of the Phantom" fan edit
III
VI - theatrical
VII (in the theater, IMAX 3D)
+ All 3 Family Guy specials
+ Fanboys

2016 - 10th Annual Festival of Lightsabers
25 - Rogue One (in the theater, IMAX 3D)
26 - A New Hope (special edition)
27 - Empire (special edition)
28 - Attack of the Clones
29  - Revenge of the Sith
30 - Jedi (special edition)
31 - Force Awakens

2017 - 11th Annual Festival of Lightsabers
24 - Force Awakens
25 - Last Jedi (in the theater, IMAX 3D)
26 - Family Guy Blue Harvest + Robot Chicken SW Episode I
27 - Rogue One
28 - IV (theatrical)
29 - Family Guy Something Something Darkside + Robot Chicken SW Episode II (I also watched the Star Wars episode of that Netflix "Toys That Made Us" show)
30 - V (theatrical) + Robot Chicken SW Episode III
31 - VI (theatrical) + Family Guy It's a Trap

2018 - 12th Annual Festival of Lightsabers
26 - Solo
27 - Rogue One
28 - A New Hope (special edition)
29 - Empire (special edition)
30 - Jedi (special edition)
31 - The Force Awakens
1/1 - The Last Jedi

I was a little bummed to not have a new Star Wars movie out this holiday season to carry on our recent tradition of watching one in the theater on Christmas Day. I think they should have held onto Solo until December instead of releasing it back in May, where it was a bomb by Star Wars standards. Looks like Episode IX is due out 12/20/2019, so that's cool.

I wasn't all that excited for Rogue One when it first came out, but in hindsight, it's probably the best of the new films.

My wife's big Christmas gift from her folks was a new TV-- a 55" 4K resolution behemoth (and obviously I benefit from the gift too!). And she also got some LED striplights for a neat backlit effect. So we practically have a damn "home theater" thing going on now. Nice to watch the Star Wars movies on a high-end, big-ass TV.

-  - - ---o

Here are the results from my recent contest/draft:

1. Chris the Collector - Prize U - Luis Tiant 2003 Topps Retired auto
2. Brett Alan - Prize Q - 6-card lot of shiny Topps Fire parallels
3. The Turrdog - Lot Z - Tom Brunansky and Daryl Boston Topps Retired autos
4. CrazieJoe - Prize C - 5-card oddball lot
5. Nick Sheren - Prize S - Priority Mailing of various baseball cards
6. Bo - Prize B - Willie McCovey lot
7. night owl - Prize W - a pair of 2018 Tribute Dodgers. Jansen and Sutton.
8. Jafronius - Prize D - Jorge Soler auto/relic
9. John Miller - Prize R - 4-card vintage lot
10. Rod (Padrographs) - Prize V - "Neglected Hall of Famers" custom set
11. Larry Presnall - Prize I - pair of Orioles autos
12. Nick (Dimebox) - Prize E - Sandlot lot

Does that look correct to everyone? Let me know, if not. I think I have all your guys' mailing addresses except for Jafronius. I'll try to get the prizes out soon, but it might be a couple weeks. Thanks again to everybody for reading, commenting, and whatnot!

-   - - ---o

Beermas 2018

Every year, my awesome wife gifts me a fancy beer for 12 days (of Beermas), culminating on Christmas Eve. Here's a quick recap of this year's beers.

1. Omnipollo - Mango Margarita Slush IPA
Almost like a sour beer. Weird, but good.

2. Founders - Frootwood
Nice sweetness.

3. Evil Twin - Breaking the Waves
The lactose smoothes it out, hard to believe it's so boozy (10% ABV)

4. Breakside - Coming Out Party
Nice enough beer.

5.  North Jetty Brewing - Ledbetter Red Scottish-Style Ale
Smooth, full body.

6. Grimlock - Rye Porter
One of my favs this year.

7. Snow Cave - Wintertime Ale
I'm not a big Belgian style beer fan.

8. Hopworks Urban Brewery - Kentucky Christmas
Another favorite of the bunch.

9. Decadent - Black Raspberry Cream Pop
Not as sweet as you might expect from the name, but not bad.

10. Megafauna - IIPA
Tastes pretty boozy, but ok.

11. Pelican Brewing - Cherried At Sea
Wasn't crazy about this one. (Again, I'm not big on Belgian-style ales.)

12. Stone - Woot Stout
Stone is one of my favorite breweries, and this one didn't disappoint. I share a little taster glass of each beer with my wife, and this one was her favorite.

Another excellent Beermas in the books!

Thanks for swinging by.