Geeky Catholic Dad

This past weekend, I finished a project that's been in the works for over a year: a custom box for The Han Solo Card Game (referred to within the Star Wars universe as Sabacc). I've written in the past about my love for tabletop games . Occasionally, that hobby has inspired me to dip my toes into the DIY world. I made a few custom inserts for some of our board games (one for Legendary: A Marvel Deck-Building Game and one for Killer Bunnies). But this project was by far the most extensive. So if you'd like to see how I did it, just keep reading.

In my previous post, I explored what we had learned about Mandalorians in the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars , as well as the tie-in graphic novel Son of Dathomir . You can see my list of observations here . To review, here are the revelations I pointed out from the Disney+ series The Mandalorian : The Mandalorians were all but wiped out by the Empire in an event referred to as "the Purge." Din Djarin is part of an underground group of Mandalorians on Nevarro. During the Purge, the Empire stole most of the Mandalorians' supply of beskar, the alloy with which Mandalorians forge their armor. As a child, Din was rescued from a Droid Army attack by Mandalorians - one of whom had the Death Watch symbol on his armor. He was adopted into their culture. Din is referred to as a "foundling." Mandalorians are never supposed to remove their helmets. If they ever remove their helmets in front of another living person, they can never put them back on ...

Last November and December, Disney+ subscribers were treated to the first ever live action Star Wars television series, The Mandalorian . In addition to the show's main focus - a man protecting a mysterious child from a galaxy of threats - we also got some details about Mandalorian culture. But this was not the first mention of Mandalorians in the on-screen Star Wars universe. There were thousands of words published about the history and culture of the warrior race. However, since those books are no longer considered an official part of Star Wars continuity, I will be focusing the two animated TV series which featured Mandalorians - Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars: Rebels .

WARNING: This review will be full of spoilers, so do not continue until you have seen Avengers: Endgame . So first, go see the movie. I'll wait. Did you see it? Okay, great!

Last weekend, I braved a winter storm to go see Captain Marvel . I absolutely loved it, and I have a bunch of things I want to say about it. If you haven't seen the movie yet, don't worry. I start off with a spoiler-free review. After that, there's a spoiler warning and a poster of Goose the Cat you'll have to scroll past before I get into any spoilers.

The Star Wars universe is vast. The official continuity includes 10 films (and counting), 4 television series that have either aired or are in development, and a host of books and comic books. There are all kinds of topics of discussion, whether it be the nature of the Force, the political machinations of the various factions, the motivations of characters, and all the different monsters, aliens, weapons, and ships in that galaxy far, far away. From time to time I'd like to take a look at just one aspect of the Star Wars universe, and offer my take. Welcome to Random Star Wars Thoughts. The Prophecy of the Chosen One The Phantom Menace introduced us to a new way of looking at the Force. The Jedi Council referred to a prophecy of a Chosen One who would bring balance to the Force. Up until that point, we knew that there was a Dark Side and a Light Side of the Force, but we had never heard anything about a balance. There are all kinds of questions about this prophecy. What is th...

Every once in a while, I'll hear something in a homily or on Catholic radio that sparks a question. As I'm not an authority on Catholic theology, but I'd like to explore these topics a bit, so I've created the series "Geeky Catholic Questions." Today's question: Where did Jesus get his Y chromosome?

Back in December of 2017, The Greatest Showman was released in theaters. At the time, I paid very little attention to it (because I was busy watching, rewatching, and digesting Star Wars: The Last Jedi ). Fast forward six months to June of 2018, when I finally had the chance to see it. And it blew me away. I’ve been thinking about it ever since, and listening to the soundtrack over and over again. It got me wondering - what was it about this movie that grabbed me? How was it able to deliver such a sense of joy?

If you're even remotely familiar with J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings , you know that Sauron is the bad guy. He's basically evil personified. So what could we possibly learn about holiness from him? "Just do the opposite of what Sauron does, and you'll be a saint?" Well, that's not exactly what I'm talking about.

I don't know if you heard, but another Star Wars movie came out last weekend. "Didn't they just do one back in December?" Yes. "Do we get to find out what happens to Rey in this one?" No. "Should I just skip this one?" No, go see it. WARNING - FULL SPOILERS FOR  SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY  AHEAD. PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK. If you have seen it, keep reading. If not, go see it, then meet me back here.

This post will contain full spoilers for Avengers: Infinity War . Go see it, then check back here. I have a crazy theory you'll want to read after you've seen it. (I'll post this again on my Facebook page in a few weeks, so you can always follow me there.) You have been warned...

Several months ago, my sister-in-law and her husband lost a daughter to miscarriage. When I heard the name they gave to their daughter - Maria Esperanza - I was inspired to write about the virtue of hope ("esperanza" is Spanish for "hope"). I have been struggling since then to put this post together. There are so many questions to answer. What does it mean to hope? How can you have hope in God when it seems like He only sends you suffering? Does a miscarriage prove that your hope was in vain? But after months of putting it off, I've finally put pen to paper (finger to keyboard? electrical impulse to web server?). I'd like to dedicate this post to Maria Esperanza and her parents.

As a lifelong Catholic and an almost-lifelong Star Wars fan, it's no surprise (to me at least) that I see a lot of Christian themes in Star Wars. By no means is Star Wars an overtly Christian work; on the contrary, it draws its spirituality from many religions, both Eastern and Western. But George Lucas did intend his story to have themes of good and evil. "I wanted it to be a traditional moral study, to have some sort of palpable precepts in it that children could understand." So while I wouldn't recommend taking Star Wars as your sole source of morality and spirituality, there is some truth to be found in that galaxy far, far away.

Rian Johnson's Star Wars: The Last Jedi has been out for a few weeks now, and fans are divided. There are those (like myself) who loved the film. (See my review here. ) But a lot of fans have issues with the film, ranging from minor nitpicks to huge disagreements about the tone, the direction the story took, or the motivations of characters. As a result, a multitude of discussions are taking place across social media. The trolls of the internet resort to hyperbole and ad hominem attacks. Fortunately, most of what I've seen has been civil, even when fans have fundamental problems with what they saw on the screen. I will be addressing one of the many topics of discussion I've seen come up: Why was Luke on Ahch-To, the site of the original Jedi Temple, if he didn't even want to be a Jedi anymore?

WARNING: Do not read this post until after you have seen Star Wars: The Last Jedi . If you haven't seen it, go away and come back later. Okay, have you seen it yet? Good. I know when you walked out of the theater you had one burning question: "What did Matt think?" Well, I'm glad you asked.

No real relationship or marriage looks like Buttercup's and Westley's, right? Do fairy tale love stories give us unrealistic expectations? Or can we take a different sort of lesson from these depictions of love? I wrote a post last week - Have Fun Storming the Castle - about how the storytelling in The Princess Bride as a whole can shed some light on life and the afterlife. This week, I'd like to focus more specifically on Buttercup and Westley. Marriage "Mawwiage is what bwings us togevah today." Throughout the Bible, the relationship between a husband and wife is often used as a symbol - or "type" - of God's relationship with His people, and Christ's relationship with His Church. (Engraved on the inside of my wedding ring is the abbreviation "EPH 5:25," to remind me of the Bible verse from Paul's letter to the Ephesians: "Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.") Ever s...

Stories with happy endings aren't realistic. The real world doesn't work that way. So what value can a fairy tale like The Princess Bride possibly offer? A lot, actually. Let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up:

There comes a time in a man's life where he starts seriously thinking about the future. He ceases to think only about his own wants and needs, and begins to consider more important things. Instead of worrying about trivial matters, like which Star Wars movie he's going to watch that night, he shifts his focus to other people. I remember this happening to me when I was in college. I asked myself a very important question: "How am I going to introduce Star Wars to my kids?" You laugh, but there are a myriad of issues to consider there. At what age is your youngling old enough to watch the films? Which film do you start with? Do you go in order of release, starting with the original? Or in chronological order, starting with The Phantom Menace ? (When I was in college, there were only two trilogies to think about, but now there is a new - and incomplete - trilogy being made, and stand-alone films coming out in between the saga films.) What if you're too forceful (n...

Let me just start out by answering some questions you might be asking yourself. No, you're not the only one who read the title of this post and tried to fit it into the meter of the song "Mr. Blue Sky." And no, it doesn't quite fit; there are a few too many syllables. Okay, with that out of the way, this review carries a huge spoiler warning, so you won't want to read past this paragraph. In fact, I'm not sure if "review" is the most accurate term. The purpose of this post isn't to inform the reader so they can decide whether or not to go see the movie, but rather to discuss what we already saw. If you're looking for my recommendation, it's this: you should go see this movie. You don't need to have seen any of the other Marvel movies to watch this one, but it helps if you've seen the first Guardians of the Galaxy (obviously). The humor is a bit crude for the younglings, so you might want to leave them at home. (Although I don...

Like many Star Wars fans, I tuned into the live stream of the Star Wars: The Last Jedi panel at Star Wars Celebration. I mostly just listened while I worked, so I'm sure I missed a lot of details about what they were talking about. But when the Rian Johnson, the film's director, said he had something to show everyone, my ears perked up. "We have a teaser-" ( There it is! I though. They're going to show the trailer! ) "-poster," he said, and then revealed the image above. But after a few minutes of pretending they weren't going to show a trailer, they relented to the audience's demands. "Of course we have a trailer!" Johnson exclaimed, as the whole place went wild.