Podcasts about then luke

Luke's "one that got away" who dumped him because he failed college. Gomer misses his podcast wife. Take Gomer to the Woodshed Gomer's sad moment in Father's Day was a homily that went nowhere for 40 minutes, but everything else was fantastic. Luke has an "A" right now for grad school, worth 5 points, but it still counts! Then Luke goes on and on about how much he loves his cohort and the school and the basilica and yadda, yadda, yadda. Also, "Hi, Paul!"

Heyoooooooo! Todd and I get together for another episode of the Five Heart Podcast! This episode we discuss: New recruits - Quarterback Richard Torres and kicker Josh Jasek The Christian McCaffrey tweet taking a shot at Scott Frost as shown below The Big Red Blitz tour and the recruiting class numbers How much Todd hates exploitation Name Image and Likeness as it pertains to Nebraska Regarding the McCaffery Tweets: Mitch Sherman started it when he tweeted the bit below. Then Luke's overachieving brother took at shot at Scott Frost when Frost was talking about bad advice, not Luke McCaffrey. I got in on it with a really mean tweet, honestly, because I thought Christian McAffrey's tweet was stupid. STUPID. Dylan McCaffrey transferred from Michigan to Northern Colorado to play football. Luke McCaffrey went from Nebraska to Louisville to Rice, a place known for great pitching, or at least it used to be. Sensitive much, McCaffrey brothers? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In episode 107 we hear from not one but two special guests. First up is Seymour, the illegitimate love child of Luke and Big Waz. Then Luke’s beautiful sister has a bit of a chat.

Ep 242 - The most pressing question this Easter is...what's your take on Ratatouille? We talk about that, prepositions, squash, and why Zach buys live rabbits in bulk. Then Luke 24. Then the music. The Playlist * Stir It Up - Bob Marley and the Wailers * Stir It Up - Patti Lebelle (Beverly Hills Cop Soundtrack) * Authors of Forever - Alicia Keys * Flesh & Blood - Johnny Cash * Ghosts - Bruce Springsteen * Flesh And Bone - The Killers Listen to the full playlist over on the Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2BlulTcCc8K2tCfwIidbw6?si=BZ3OqV22S36DsBE3ALgY3g Matt Keadle is the pastor of St Mark's Lutheran Church and Campus Ministry in Los Angeles. Zach Parris is the pastor of Lutheran Campus Ministry at the University of Colorado. The Vinyl Preacher was the recipient of the 2019 Joseph Sittler Award given by the Lutheran Campus Ministry Network. It is produced by Nick Morris, aka @drazeforce. Check out his SoundCloud.

ADHD creates a funny side-effect of distraction that can lead to hilarious places and regrettable obsessions. Gomer and Luke share theirs. Then Luke brings up the main topic of our latest critical review and the absence of civility today.

In Luke 5:27-39, Luke wrote concerning Levi, also known as Matthew, whom Jesus called to follow Him. He also writes that Jesus told another parable concerning wardrobe and wine, and concerning the old and the new which do not mix. First, Dr. Mitchell takes a look at the calling of a disciple named Levi. He called his tax-gathering friends together and made a feast for Jesus. Here is the first example of friendship evangelism. Then Luke writes how the rulers attack Jesus' disciples first, trying to get at Jesus. But notice how our Lord Himself addresses this opposition. Remember, Jesus said in Acts 9:4, “Saul, Saul why are you persecuting Me?” Saul, later called Paul, had been persecuting the Lord's church. Jesus takes it personally when His church is persecuted. Saul was then saved thru faith in Jesus as the Christ. Here is Dr. Mitchell on the Unchanging Word Bible Broadcast, Luke 5:27. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/unchanging-word/message

Message Notes“After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly. Then Luke, says these amazing words. All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, and much grace was upon them all. There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need.”Acts 4:31-35In this new command Jesus is inviting you to change your focus from you, to embrace the you beside you.Jesus said that loving God is fulfilled when you love your neighbor as yourself!The new command from Jesus is less complicated than the old testament law, but it is far more demanding.Ask yourself the question: What does love require of me? And then do that!We WILL help eliminate food insecurity in our community and throughout the world!https://www.fmsc.org/get-involved/volunteerSend questions to email@redeemermn.orgScriptureActs 4, John 13:34-35, Matthew 22:34-40, Matthew 5:23-24, Galatians 5:6, Matthew 25:31-40

Jesus, in submission to his parents, lived life growing in wisdom and strength and the grace of God was upon Him. Then Luke gives us a record of Jesus as a child of 12 going to Jerusalem for the passover. And instead of returning home to Nazareth, He stayed in Jerusalem ministering His Father's business in the temple. Jesus astounded the religious leaders with His questions and answers. But Mary and Joseph were distressed, thinking He was lost in the city, they found Him in temple. Jesus was the center of attention from both his parents and the religious leaders. Jesus should be the focus of our attention, affection and faith. Here is Dr. Mitchell, Luke 2:39, on the Unchanging Word Bible Broadcast. ****************** The founder of the Unchanging Word, Mr. Ernie Ediger, went home to be with his Lord Jesus Christ on Dec. 12, 2020. We are thankful to God for having raised him up and enabling him to continue the teaching ministry of Dr. John G. Mitchell. Please pray with us as we continue to minister the word of God through the Unchanging Word Bible Broadcast knowing that your labour is not in vain in the Lord. Thank you for your support! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/unchanging-word/message

  John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. The first two gospels (Matthew and Mark) were written between 50-60 AD. Then Luke came after, around 60-61 AD. Matthew and Luke give us our traditional story of the baby born in a smelly barn, and Mark moves fast and jumps right in at the baptism of Jesus. Perhaps even in the early years of the church people thought mostly of the lowly human side to the incarnation. After all, it's a side we most naturally relate to. So when John writes his gospel twenty to thirty years later, it's a very different side of the same coin. We don't even find out who he is writing about until verse 17!  John describes a being he calls “the Word” in such awe-inspiring language that it doesn't sound like a human being at all. Let's consider John's words, as if for the first time. The Word existed in the beginning (v1) – so he's really old, that's pretty cool. Some kind of really old being became a human. The Word was with God in the beginning (v1) – so he's powerful and on God's side, with direct access to God too. That's important to know. All things that were made were made through The Word (v2-3) – wait a second. So, he wasn't just there at the beginning – he wasn't created then, but was a creator. He's really powerful and designed and created every single particle upon which he then built everything in the vast universe? That creator-being became a human? This is getting interesting. In him was life and that life was the light of men (v4), the true light, which gives light to everyone (v9) – so he not only has jaw-dropping power, there is some kind of special life in him that is shining forth to everyone – there is no place this light cannot touch or reach. What is this life? Any stipulations on getting it from him? To all who receive him, who believe in him, he gives the right to be called children of God, born of God (v12) – so the Word has power from God, but also the authority to change humans into children of God – that is incredible! Yet not for all people, but only those who believe in him. Makes sense. This must have been an amazing being to see. What was that like? Verse 14 says “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” So when John lived with the Word he saw a unique glory from God – a glory shining full of grace and full of truth, like no other being ever has. Can you imagine seeing that? And yet, he became human, he became flesh, not just a god looking like a human. John the Baptist, a prophet of God, saw this glory. The first time he saw The Word, he cried out “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (v29) I can't take away a single sin from myself, let alone the world. Who is this being!? I wouldn't be surprised at all if the next verse said the Word was a giant man with a gold sash, white hair, bronze legs, eyes like a flame of fire, a two-edged sword coming from his mouth and a face like the sun shining in full strength! He actually does show back up looking exactly like that in Revelation, but Verse 29 actually says, “he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God!'” So the Word…is Jesus!? You mean this elaborate introduction is all about the cute, helpless baby born in a smelly barn? That's the Word? The being John is describing and saying you have to believe in to be called a child of God? The unattractive, poor, Jewish rabbi who died as a criminal? Yes. You see, he was born to do the work of a lamb, so his power is veiled in weakness and humility. He will do the work of a Lion one day and will come dressed in terrible beauty. So, embrace the kindness and approachability Jesus offers when you look into his patient, forgiving, human eyes, but do not fail to also see the powerful fire of heavenly holiness and of cosmic creation burning there.

Luke and I discuss the astounding book, A Canticle for Leibowitz, by Walter Miller Jr. Written in the 1950's at the height of the Cold War, Miller saw the specter of nuclear annihilation before him and penned this, one of the most insightful post-apocalyptic books ever written. We explore the themes as well as the original Dark Ages, and the drama of faith and reason. Then Luke ends with a VERY SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT!

Two of Dawgman's interns, Luke Mounger and Jack McCauley, sit down to preview Washington's season-opener, Saturday night's game at California. They first dig into some initial thoughts about Washington's depth chart that was released Monday. They they move straight into the preview, talking about Cal's offensive playmakers, including QB Chase Garbers, RB Chris Brown, and WR Kekoa Crawford. There's also a breakdown of Cal's receivers versus UW's secondary and the battle of the trenches between Cal's offensive line and UW's defensive front. Then Luke and Jack move to the other side of the ball and looked at how Cal's defense match up with John Donovan's new pro-style attack. Some of Cal's defensive standouts include LB Kuoy Deng, DB Camryn Bynum, DB Elijah Hicks, and DB Josh Drayden. Will UW be able to run against Cal's front? The last couple of games have been defensive bloodbaths. Will this year be more of the same? They talk about that and then finish up with a couple of keys from each that will ultimately tell the tale of what the scoreboard looks like at the end of the game, as well as give their level of confidence in a Washington victory. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Aaron is joined by Locked On Vikings host Luke Braun to preview the Atlanta Falcons vs. Minnesota Vikings matchup in Week 6. First, Aaron discusses the concern over whether the Falcons entering intensive Covid-19 protocols could learn to cancellations of games. Then Luke and he discuss whether the Falcons will show more urgency under interim head coach Raheem Morris and the reasons for why the Falcons offensive and defensive struggles. Then they switch teams and discuss the Vikings running game, offensive line and defensive regression.  Luke is on twitter: @LukeBraunNFL. Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!  Rock Auto Amazing selection. Reliably low prices. All the parts your car will ever need. Visit RockAuto.com and tell them Locked On sent you. Built Bar Built Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON,” and you’ll get 20% off your next order. MyBookie INVEST IN YOUR INTUITION. USE PROMO CODE LOCKEDON AND DOUBLE YOUR FIRST DEPOSIT. NEW PLAYERS GET UP TO $1,000 IN FREE PLAY - DESIGNED TO ADD MORE EXCITEMENT TO THE SPORTS YOU LOVE AND THE GAMES YOU BET. YOUR WINNING SEASON BEGINS TODAY...ONLY AT MYBOOKIE! BuiltGo Visit BuiltGO.com and use promo code “LOCKED,” and you’ll get 20% off your next order. Roman Go to getroman.com/lockedon TODAY. If approved, you’ll get fifteen dollars off your first order of ED treatment. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Aaron is joined by Locked On Vikings host Luke Braun to preview the Atlanta Falcons vs. Minnesota Vikings matchup in Week 6. First, Aaron discusses the concern over whether the Falcons entering intensive Covid-19 protocols could learn to cancellations of games. Then Luke and he discuss whether the Falcons will show more urgency under interim head coach Raheem Morris and the reasons for why the Falcons offensive and defensive struggles. Then they switch teams and discuss the Vikings running game, offensive line and defensive regression.  Luke is on twitter: @LukeBraunNFL. Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!  Rock Auto Amazing selection. Reliably low prices. All the parts your car will ever need. Visit RockAuto.com and tell them Locked On sent you. Built Bar Built Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON,” and you’ll get 20% off your next order. MyBookie INVEST IN YOUR INTUITION. USE PROMO CODE LOCKEDON AND DOUBLE YOUR FIRST DEPOSIT. NEW PLAYERS GET UP TO $1,000 IN FREE PLAY - DESIGNED TO ADD MORE EXCITEMENT TO THE SPORTS YOU LOVE AND THE GAMES YOU BET. YOUR WINNING SEASON BEGINS TODAY...ONLY AT MYBOOKIE! BuiltGo Visit BuiltGO.com and use promo code “LOCKED,” and you’ll get 20% off your next order. Roman Go to getroman.com/lockedon TODAY. If approved, you’ll get fifteen dollars off your first order of ED treatment. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Sorry for the delay. Life is a never ending gauntlet of suffering, loss and bitter partings. Anywho, Gomer was unable to record. Luke put out a few random requests for pitch-hitters on Twitter and Instagram, AND SO MANY OF YOU RESPONDED! This was such a fun epsiode to record. I think you'll enjoy it. There are three interviews on this epsiode. First, Luke chats with Lucas Hennesey, a friend from colllege and normal life, about being a 'Traddie,' the Latin Mass, and being a person of faith in a world quite often hostile to it. Then Luke chats with Bernadette Dalgetty from An Eldless Pursuit, a husband and wife wedding photogtpahy team. They chat about the creative process, starting a business and other stuff. Very cool chat. And then. It finally happens. Sarah Rose Bort and Sarah Rogers make their much anticipated debut. We chat about our experience leading ministdry together, the importance of mentorhsip, what happens when a leader with a "strong personality" leaves (I'll let you guess who that leader was), and other stuff that I cant remember. Three unique conversations that I very much enjoyed. I think you will as well. The September Challenge Continutes! So much fun stuff happening on our Pateron right now. Engage your FOMO that we all know you have. Support us on Patreon and partake in the September Challenge! www.patreon.com/cf (www.patreon.com/cf) *Fun links. * Old St. Mary's Catholic Church (https://www.oldstmarys.org) Hands down, one of the best Church's in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. An Endless Pursuit Photography (https://www.anendlesspursuit.com) Archdiocese of Cincinnati Young Adult Insagram Page (https://www.instagram.com/cincyyoungadults/) @Cincyyoungadults Sarah Rogers Twitter - @theysayrogg (https://twitter.com/thesayyrogg) Sarah Rose Bort Instagram- @Sarah_rose16 (https://www.instagram.com/sarah_rose16/) Sarah Rogers Instagram- @thesayyrogg (https://www.instagram.com/thesayyrogg/) Gratuitous Simpsons Clip (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zvhw9BSURGg)

Bick speeds back for Hour 2, as he details what he saw at Cardinals Camp and shares the Zeus-like lightning occurring near his home. Then Luke sticks around to talk NBA Playoffs with Dan and Vince, then we continue the TRIPLE MATCH raising money for Phoenix Children's, the Give-A-Thon Week continues on Arizona Sports. You can donate by calling 602-933-4567 or by texting “GIVE” to 411-923 or 620-620! 

Eric's BACK in action in a double-wide episode, and he's bringing the heat in the form of a casual discussion and catch-up sesh. Then Luke is joined by another guest for the back-half. We go through the COVID-19 Questions, discuss the sports we can, and just have a good time.

Aaron is joined by Locked On Vikings host Luke Braun to discuss the Atlanta Falcons and Minnesota Vikings offseason moves. Aaron discusses the parallels between the two teams, but how one team's coaching situation is more stable and predictable. Then Aaron explains to Luke how the Falcons offense can compete in the revamped NFC South, what went right and wrong for the defense in 2019 and how the Falcons can improve upon that in 2020. Then Luke discusses Kirk Cousins' ability to step up in 2020, the Vikings ability to replace Stefon Diggs, changing of the guard for the team's defense and why Everson Griffen is still available in free agency. Luke is on twitter: @LukeBraunNFL. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Aaron is joined by Locked On Vikings host Luke Braun to discuss the Atlanta Falcons and Minnesota Vikings offseason moves. Aaron discusses the parallels between the two teams, but how one team's coaching situation is more stable and predictable. Then Aaron explains to Luke how the Falcons offense can compete in the revamped NFC South, what went right and wrong for the defense in 2019 and how the Falcons can improve upon that in 2020. Then Luke discusses Kirk Cousins' ability to step up in 2020, the Vikings ability to replace Stefon Diggs, changing of the guard for the team's defense and why Everson Griffen is still available in free agency. Luke is on twitter: @LukeBraunNFL. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Luke listens to a podcast that's not Pints with Aquinas and has an idea: let's take the theological concept of Sloth/Acedia, aka, "the noonday devil", and combine it with the complete lack of training or purpose many institutions give employees. Gomer applies it to marriages, with less than successful results. Then Luke mocks Gomer's pain when he collapsed on our friends' mom's front yard sobbing.

Today's Bible Readings: Genesis 47; Luke 1:1-38; Job 13; 1 Corinthians 1How did the Canonical Gospels come down to us?At one level, it is enough to be assured that God provided them. But normally God operates through identifiable means. At no point do the canonical Gospels give the impression that they were handed down from heaven on golden plates, or transcribed by apostles attentive to divine dictation.Luke provides the most detail as to how he went about his task (Luke 1:1-4). He tells us that “many” had already “undertaken to draw up an account” of Jesus’ life and ministry, in line with what was “handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word” (1:1-2). From this we can infer two things: (a) Luke does not himself claim to be an eyewitness of Jesus. He does claim to be in touch with what the original “eyewitnesses and servants of the word” handed down. (b) By the time he writes, Luke knows that already there are many written reports circulating. This is not surprising. The Jews were a literate race. Every boy learned to read and write. It is inconceivable that no one committed anything to paper in the first years after Jesus’ death, resurrection, and exaltation.Then Luke tells us he himself “carefully investigated everything from the beginning.” The words suggest that he read the sources, talked with all the principals he could find, and evaluated the reports. We can glimpse at least a little of his method when we read his second volume, the book of Acts. There, by following his movements, we discover that he can be placed in all the early major Christian centers, where he would have the opportunity to talk to all of the earliest Christian leaders, and to read all of the earliest reports and archives. It is not too much of a leap, then, to infer that if Luke the doctor (see Col. 4:14) has some extra information about Mary’s unique pregnancy (Luke 1:26ff.), it is because he looked her up and had some long chats. In due course, then, he chose to write “an orderly account” (1:3).Two things follow. First, however much the Spirit of God superintended the production of this gospel, such divine superintendence did not obviate the need for strenuous research and careful work. Second, this method of bringing a canonical book into being is entirely in line with its subject matter: God himself brought the messianic Son of David, the Son of God, into this world (1:35), the eternal invading the temporal, forever assuring that one could talk of him as a witness speaks of what is observed. The transmission of Christian truth necessarily rests, in part, not on mysticism, but on witness.This podcast is designed to be used alongside TGC's Read The Bible initiative (TGC.org/readthebible). The podcast features devotional commentaries from D.A. Carson’s book For the Love of God (vol. 1) that follow the M’Cheyne Bible reading plan.

Show notes Hello everyone and welcome to episode 47 where today we revisit the Christmas story from the perspective of Mary, and how the birth of Jesus affected her relationships, because his birth affects our relationships as well. I don’t know about you, but for me there are lots of things that tire me about Christmas. Reindeer, wrapping paper, lighted Santa Claus figures on neighbors’ lawns, strands of Christmas tree lights with burned-out-bulbs that are time consuming to fix. How about you? I bet there are things that tire you about Christmas, too. But one thing I never tire of is the actual real-life Christmas story itself, found in the Gospel of Luke, chapter 2. I find new things every year in this story that never changes. This year, for example, for the first time I wondered about the sheep that the shepherds left behind to go find the Christ child in Bethlehem. What happened to them? They were left unprotected, or did the angels watch over the sheep while the shepherds were gone. Or did wolves or other predators do them in? And did the shepherds loose their jobs over leaving their post, or was their pay docked? Not the most profound of questions, to be sure. Something of far more significance comes near the end of the apostle Luke’s account of the first Christmas Day. Let me read the whole story to you, it’s just 20 verses from the beginning of chapter 2 of Luke’s gospel. [Read Luke 2:1-20] I never get tired of reading this familiar story. And this year it’s because of what Luke says about Mary at the end of the passage when the shepherds left to spread the word about what they saw. Mary is next to the manager with her baby, in the quiet of the night, reflecting about what just happened. Luke then says in verse 19, “… but Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often.” Here’s what impresses me about this story Some versions of Luke’s Christmas story translate “kept all these things” in her heart as “treasured” or “pondered” all these things in her heart. However you translate it, the main point this verse makes me think about this year, is what were “all these things” that filled Mary’s heart? Luke doesn’t come right out and tell us. But in looking at the context, I’d like to suggest one strong possibility. And that is Mary quite possibly was treasuring her relationships in a new and profound way. It starts with the beginning of vs. 19, “…but Mary…” Everything that came before this important word “but” was about an event of one kind or another. It was the plot of the story, the facts, the details. Then Luke adds a contrast to these facts, with the word “but,” which transitions us to another important aspect of the story. Namely, what is going on in Mary’s heart as she considers the relational implications of these recent events. First off, she has to be thinking and feeling, “I’m a mother now!” And like most first-time mom’s down through the centuries probably wondering, “How in the world am I going to do this? I don’t have a clue.” She must have thought about this thing often. More than this mother-child relationship, there was her relationship with God that must have joyfully gripped her heart. I suspect she was thinking something along the lines of  “This actually happened. What the angel told me has actually come to pass. It’s really true. God used me to create a miracle, and this is all going to be really, really big, even though I am really, really, small. “What a wonderful and kind God to finally enter the human race to redeem and reconcile all people to himself. And to use me as part of his plan. I can hardly believe it.” This certainly must have been one of the things Mary treasured in her heart and thought of often. And then there was her relationship with Joseph. I don’t see how this couldn’t have brought her to tears in thinking about how blessed she was to be in relationship with him. He had every right to break off the engagement when she told him she was pregnant. “But he believed me,” I can picture Mary thinking, “and he believed the Lord that what I told him about my pregnancy being of God was actually true. What man in his right mind would believe such a thing? Only a man who walked closely with the Lord, and who will be my husband. My Joseph had to endure the sneers and snickers of friends and relatives who took him for a fool in believing me. But he did. And he did it for me, and for God. He believed in me, and in God.” This too, I imagine she pondered and treasured in her heart and thought of often. So these are just three relationships that kept her thinking. I wonder about her relationship with her parents, with Joseph’s parents. With her neighbors and townspeople of Nazareth. What were these relationships going to be like moving forward. What was the future going to be like for all of humanity, and my role in it? Here’s the one thing to remember from today’s episode, our show in a sentence: Christmas takes on a much richer meaning when we follow Mary’s example and ponder, treasure in our hearts, and otherwise think about often the implications of our relationship with the God of the universe. Here’s what you can do in response to today’s show. Think often about the following questions. Mary had a deeply intimate relationships with Jesus. What is the state of my relationship with Him. Do I even have a relationship with him? Who was around me when Jesus came into my life, and what role did they play? Was there a sibling, parent, trusted friend, or a spouse like Mary had? How has my relationship with Jesus affected my relationship with them? In what condition was I in when Jesus came into my life, and how did He change things? Mary was pregnant before marriage to Joseph. She must have had her critics. I bet you have some too. How has your relationship with Jesus helped you deal with them? Mary had Joseph in her life, a man who believed in her when all logic and the opinions of others thought otherwise. Do you have a Joseph in your life you can count on? Someone who trusts you and believes in you when others do not? To whom can you be a Joseph? And if you’re a woman, who can you be a Josephine for? As always, I’d be interested in what resonated with you about today’s episode. You can share your thoughts in the “Leave a Reply” box at the bottom of the show notes. Or you can send them to me in an email to john@caringforothers.org. Closing As we close this episode, and along with it, season two, I want to let you know what you can expect over the next several weeks. First of all, Season 3 of You Were Made for This will begin on January 22nd. It seems like a long way off to me, but Carol tells me it’s not. While the podcast is taking a break, my weekly email to you isn’t. Each one will be very brief and will be about an insight, thought, or tip you can use to find more joy in your relationships. Because they come to you every Wednesday, from now on I’m going to call them my Every Wednesday emails. If you’re already getting them each Wednesday morning, there’s nothing more you need to do. You’ll still get them. If you’re not getting them, and want to, just go to the show notes of any podcast episode and fill out the 3 fields in the “Get it Every Wednesday form.” You’ll see the form on the right side of the page, as well as at the end of the show notes. johncertalic.com/podcast is where you can find this. Carol told me to tell we do promise to get the email to you Every Wednesday, even on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day, which are both on a Wednesday this year. I asked off for Christmas Day, but Carol said “Every Wednesday means every Wednesday. What is it about ‘every Wednesday’ you don’t understand?” I didn’t have a good answer for her. So to help me out, she pasted a “Every Wednesday means Every Wednesday” sticker on my locker downstairs in the employee locker room. All this to say, you will be getting an email from me on Christmas and New Years Day, and all other Wednesdays. Carol’s tough, but fair, and doesn’t expect anything from others she doesn’t expect from herself. So she’ll be working, too, on Christmas. Now while you won’t be hearing new podcast episodes until January 22nd, there are 46 older episodes you can access any time. You can get them from our website, johncertalic.com certainly. But the You Were Made for This episode listing is displayed in a more readable form in iTunes and Google Play. I’ll put links to both at the bottom of the show notes. Like all our episodes, each one of the older episodes is designed to help transform your relationships into the best they can be. Now for Our Relationship Quote of the Week Luke 2:1-19 I never get tired of this story, I hope you don’t either That’s all for today. See you next week in my Every Wednesday email. Good bye for now, and season two. Resources mentioned in today’s show A listing of all 47 episodes of You Were Made for This from seasons one and two can be found here: iTunes Google Podcasts app Android/PC users Spotify

The Chef Boys are joined by their pal, comedian Ryan Conner to talk a little bit of sports (but not too much) as Aaron makes them the meal Michael Jordan would eat before every game of basketball: steak and a baked potato. They also talk about horrible sports nutrition of the past, the end of Brendan's high school football career, and the disgusting apartment Brendan and Aaron lived in in Philadelphia ten years ago. Then Luke poses the question: if you had to go vegan but got to keep one animal product, what would you keep? Ryan Conner on twitter Ryan Conner on instagram Ryan Conner's website Ryan Conner's album: Live from an Old Prison Chef Boys-R-We website Chef Boys-R-We on twitter Chef Boys-R-We on instagram Chef Boys-R-We on facebook Chef Boys-R-We TeePublic Store Luke Giordano on twitter Aaron Hertzog on twitter Aaron Hertzog on instagram Brendan Kennedy on twitter Brendan Kennedy on instagram

Gomer argues Marital Debt. Luke burns down another bridge, but he was right to. Then Luke burns another one down, and I think he was right again. Then we dive into an amazing S.A. Whitebook quote on Lust.

Ontario recently changed their rules about buying liquor outside the ‘LCBO’ and “Beer Store” structure. What is the result for consumers? Then – Luke was a jerk and asked me again how my brewing was going this season. Which has … Continued The post Canadian Beer Buying and Keeping the Hobby alive – E16 appeared first on Rysk Brewing.

We start off exploring the critical importance of having a purpose in our lives, a reason to live that is greater than just getting by. Then Luke shares a challenging and confronting occurrence in his business. It's a very personal experience for him and it allows us to explore some powerful topics for all team leaders, especially business owners. A must listen episode if you are in charge of, or responsible for leading others (or ever want to be).

We dive deep into Men Tell All! Starting with Luke coming back to Hannah in Greece, Hannah moving the rose pedestal, how Tyler, Peter and Jed interjected, the Instagram post Luke posted about the engagement ring but he took it down, and Chris Harrison's role. Then Luke takes the hot seat and we dissect his acting performance he put on (steaming hot takes from Eddie, Lynn and Producer Joe). Don't worry, we also break down John Paul Jones, Devin and Mike's hot seat experiences as well as the bloopers. We then share a ton of Bachelor Nation news including a Jed update, Tyler C's run in with the law, and break down the most followed contestants on Instagram (along with tons of other juicy Bach Nation news with clips). Segments include: Fashion Police, Walt Whitman Poetry hour, and You Can't Handle the Truth! Leave us a voicemail at 484-450-8864. Name and town and we will play it on air on our next episode! Feel free to leave us a review on Apple Podcasts too :) Send any thoughts/ love/ suggestions to eddieravert@gmail.com @RoseBudsPodcast, @eddie_rage @blynngin and @joe_ravert26. Read Eddie's Philly Voice article for the inside scoop on Raven & Adam's engagement: www.phillyvoice.com/bachelor-engagement-video/ To start your free wedding website and also get $50 off your registry on Zola, go to ZOLA.com/ROSEBUDS Get 50% off your first order and get started today for just $5! Visit mymyro.com/rosebuds and use promo code: rosebuds For $80 off your first month of HelloFresh, go to HelloFresh.com/rosebuds80 and enter rosebuds80.

Hey y’all! I know you’re listening today to hear an entertaining recap on The Bachelorette, but truth be told, it was the worst episode ever. What are you supposed to do when the show dedicates 40 minutes of Luke drama and an hour of recapping? Back off, ABC. People come to my website and podcast to read/hear a stellar bachelorette recap, thankyouverymuch.  Stop cramping my style. Some Guy in Austin and I had a hard time deciding what to talk about this episode. We discussed Luke, what Some Guy calls “Hannah’s meltdown” and what I call “Hannah’s soapbox” moment. Then Luke again, Harrison’s hug and pocket square (I’d hug those shoulders). Luke once more and Harrison’s manufactured fireside chat. And, of course, Luke We also dive into the cast of Bachelor in Paradise Season 6. I’m eager to watch Demi stake her claim in some guy (probably Blake). I’m hopeful that Annaleise finds love (so she won’t ever come on the show again) and I’m so happy to see that Keith/Kevin’s shoulder is better. I can’t wait to hear him speak.  Pass the Germ Squirt, people. Paradise is back.  EPISODE NOTES I mention an article about one of the producers on the show who is GOOD LOOKING. Someone over at Cosmopolitan did their research! Want to read the full recap for this episode? Click HERE! Want to read my initial thoughts on the Bachelor in Paradise season 6 cast? Click HERE! SHOW NOTES: Subscribe to Podcast: iTunes or Android Newsletter Subscription: HERE Follow Me: Facebook and Instagram and Twitter Buy My Books: It’s a Love Story and Why I Hate Green Beans

Hey y’all! I know you’re listening today to hear an entertaining recap on The Bachelorette, but truth be told, it was the worst episode ever. What are you supposed to do when the show dedicates 40 minutes of Luke drama and an hour of recapping? Back off, ABC. People come to my website and podcast to read/hear a stellar bachelorette recap, thankyouverymuch.  Stop cramping my style. Some Guy in Austin and I had a hard time deciding what to talk about this episode. We discussed Luke, what Some Guy calls “Hannah’s meltdown” and what I call “Hannah’s soapbox” moment. Then Luke again, Harrison’s hug and pocket square (I’d hug those shoulders). Luke once more and Harrison’s manufactured fireside chat. And, of course, Luke We also dive into the cast of Bachelor in Paradise Season 6. I’m eager to watch Demi stake her claim in some guy (probably Blake). I’m hopeful that Annaleise finds love (so she won’t ever come on the show again) and I’m so happy to see that Keith/Kevin’s shoulder is better. I can’t wait to hear him speak.  Pass the Germ Squirt, people. Paradise is back.  EPISODE NOTES I mention an article about one of the producers on the show who is GOOD LOOKING. Someone over at Cosmopolitan did their research! Want to read the full recap for this episode? Click HERE! Want to read my initial thoughts on the Bachelor in Paradise season 6 cast? Click HERE! SHOW NOTES: Subscribe to Podcast: iTunes or Android Newsletter Subscription: HERE Follow Me: Facebook and Instagram and Twitter Buy My Books: It’s a Love Story and Why I Hate Green Beans

[Below is the chapter from the book, Just a Taste of Heaven, on which this podcast episode is based] The Power of the Spirit   Isaiah predicted that when the Messiah would come the Spirit of the Lord would be upon him in order that he might preach good news to the poor, proclaim freedom to those who were captive, and proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour (Isaiah 61:1-2)   In Luke 4:18-19 Jesus claimed that this prophecy was now fulfilled. This is important in our understanding of Luke’s Gospel because it illustrates Luke’s emphasis that Jesus performed his miracles by the power of the Holy Spirit.   Luke 3:21-22 tells us that just after Jesus was baptised by John in the River Jordan the Holy Spirit descended on him. As a result of this he returned from the Jordan full of the Holy Spirit (Luke 4:1), and in 4:14 he returns to Galilee in the power of the Spirit.   This may also be reflected in Luke 5:17 where we are told that the power of the Lord was present for him to heal the sick (cf. 6:17:19).   In this chapter we will consider three healings recorded by Luke, two of which are not recorded in any other Gospel: The paralytic(5:17-26) The womanwith curvature of the spine (13:10-17) The ten lepers(17:11-19). The paralytic (5:17-26)   Luke begins by saying that the power of the Lord was present for him to heal the sick (v.17). This statement raises important questions: Wasn’t God’s power always present with Jesusto heal the sick? If it was, then why does Lukebother to mention it?   And these questions raise a further question, Did Jesuswork his miracles by virtue of the fact that he was God, or did he (even though he was God) perform them as a man through the power of the Holy Spirit?   The answer to this last question must surely be that Jesus performed his miracles as a man, by the power of the Holy Spirit. How else could he tell his disciples that anyone who had faith in him could do similar, and even greater, works (John 14:12)? This would only be possible because of the Holy Spirit whom Jesus would send.   If this answer to question 3 is correct, then the answer to question 1 must be that Jesus only worked his miracles when led by the Holy Spirit to do so (cf John 5:19).   The answer to question 2, therefore, is that Luke mentions that the power of the Lord was present to heal, to emphasise that at that moment the Holy Spirit was empowering Jesus to heal and leading him to do so. If this understanding is right, then it will clearly have implications for us as we minister to the sick today. If Jesus ministered to them as he was led and empowered by the Holy Spirit to do so, then how much more do we need the Spirit’s leading and empowering? But we must now turn to the account of the healing itself. Here is how Luke describes it:   18 Some men came carrying a paralytic on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. 19 When they could not because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus. 20 When Jesus saw their faith, he said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.” 21 The Pharisees and teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, “Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?” 22 Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked, “Why are you thinking these things in your hearts? 23 Which is easier; to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven’, or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? 24 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins…” He said to the paralysed man, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home”. 25 Immediately he stood up in front of them, took what he had been lying on and went home praising God.   The following points are worthy of note: It seems that in this case it is not the sick man, but his friends who take the initiative(v. 18). Indeed it appears to be their faith (v. 20) to which Jesus  In this respect it is similar to the healing of the centurion’s servant in Matthew 8. This teaches us that it is not always the faith of the sick person that is the basis for the healing. Jesussays, Your sins are forgiven, before he performs the healing (v.20). Why? 3 possibilities:   It may indicate that the man’s sickness had come as a result of personal sin– or even that the sick man believed it had! It’s possible, too, that by demonstrating his authorityto forgive sins, Jesus is seeking to stress his Messianic authority to the critical Pharisees. However, it seems just as likely that he is showing his audience that the forgivenessof sins is more important than the healing of disease. The story demonstrates Jesus’ authorityas the Son of Man (v. 24), a Messianic title. It implies his deity. The Pharisees were right to say that only God has the right to forgive sins, they just didn’t realise that Jesus was God. (Not his miracles, but his authority to forgive sins). The woman with curvature of the spine (13:10-17) Only found in Luke’s Gospel. The Bible indicates that some sickness is the result of personal sin, as may have been the case with the man we considered in the last section. At other times, though by no means always, it may be caused by the activity of Satan, as the next passage clearly shows: 10 On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, 11 and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all. 12 When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity”. 13 Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God. 14 Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, the synagogue ruler said to the people, “There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not the Sabbath”. 15 The Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Doesn’t each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water? 16 Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?   This passage, like the last we considered, describes a confrontation between Jesus and the religious authorities of that day. Again the passage is used to demonstrate Jesus’ authority, this time to heal on the Sabbath. It also shows the rejection of that authority by the Jewish leaders to whom Luke intends the parable of the fig tree in verses 6-9 to be a warning. This shows that the main purpose of the passage may not have been to teach about healing as such, but to highlight again the failure of the Jewish authorities to recognise who Jesus was, and to show Jesus’ righteous indignation at man-made regulations which only brought God’s people into bondage. Nevertheless, there are several aspects of the story which enlighten us with regard to healing:   Here is an example, similar to the case of the healing of Peter’smother-in-law, where it is Jesus, not the sick person who takes the initiative (v.12). There is no mention of faithon the part of the woman. Jesus heals her as soon as he sees her (v.12). This is another indication of Jesus’ willingness to heal. There is no suggestion that the sickness was caused by sin. It was caused by ‘a spirit’ (v. 11) acting as an agent of Satan(v. 16). This is not demon-possession. Jesus does not cast it out. He does not address the spirit, he speaks to the woman, tells her she is free and lays hands on her. Immediately she is healed. However, more important than the cause of the sickness is the clear implication that as one of God’s people the womanhad a right to be healed (v. 16). The passage clearly shows that compassionis more important than legalism. Compare Luke 14:1-6 where Jesus heals a man suffering from dropsy on the Sabbath and leaves the Pharisees and legal experts speechless! The ten lepers (17:11-19) This story, too, is only found in Luke’s Gospel. He tells us that as Jesus was going to Jerusalem, travelling along the border between Samaria and Galilee, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance, as lepers were required to, and called out in a loud voice, Jesus, Master, have pity on us! Then Luke tells us:   14 When Jesus saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests”. And as they went, they were cleansed. 15 One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. 16 He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him – and he was a Samaritan.17 Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? 18 Was no-one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?”19 Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well”.   Note:   The failure of the Jews to recognise Jesus for who he was. The nine Jewish lepers who were healed and yet failed to come back to give thanks may well be taken to symbolise the ingratitude of Israel as a whole, despite the many blessings which Jesus brought to them.   One obvious lesson from this story, therefore, is the importance of gratitude.   The importance of faith. This is seen in the lepers’ initial plea for pity. It implies that they believed Jesus could help them. Furthermore, Jesus’ instruction, which is given before they are healed, that they must go and show themselves to the priest (cf. Matthew 8:4 where the leper is told to go after Jesus has healed him), surely implies the demand that they should act in faith. It is only as they go that they are cleansed (v. 14). Jesus’ last words to the grateful Samaritan leper, Rise and go; your faith has made you well.   Jesus’ statement here[1] is identical to what he said when speaking to the woman whose bleeding was healed when she touched his cloak (Mark 5:34). There we suggested that Mark might have intended us to understand that the woman received more than healing for her body. At the very least, we argued, Mark was using a miracle of healing as an illustration of salvation, and it seems likely that this is also Luke’s intention in the story of the grateful leper.   Conclusion Jesus performed his healings by the power of the Spirit and as he was led by the Spirit. This is where his authority sprang from. The forgiveness of sins is more important than the healing of the body. Some sicknesses may be caused by personal sin. Others may be inflicted by Satan. Faith features strongly in healing. It is sometimes the faith of the sick person, but it may be the faith of friends. Sometimes that faith is tested. In some cases faith is not mentioned at all. Miracles of healing may be powerful illustrations of God’s saving power. This may indicate that in some sense healing is a part of salvation. (Next time)     [1] The Greek is hē pistis sou sesōken se which means:            Your faith has healed you    OR   Your faith has saved you.   Cf. the following passages where the same expression is used: Bartimaeus - Matthew 10:52, Luke 18:42 The woman with the haemorrhage - Matthew 9:22, Mark 5:34, Luke 8:48 The Leper - Luke 17:19 Luke 7:50 - referring to the forgiveness of sins.  

Gomer is about to debate an anti-Catholic Protestant and gets some HOT TIPS from Luke on how to engage in a religious argument. Then Luke trashes Exodus 90 and calls Gomer tubby.(1) 1: No he doesn't. UPDATE: A super-massive thunderstorm prevented Gomer from meeting and having a nice discussion on Personal Salvation and the Authority of the Church. Thanks, God.

This week we go into Hunty's new favorite game: "Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice". Then Zach shares Reddit's latest in dog themed subreddits (hellholes), r/DogShowerThoughts and goes into acceptable use of "heckin" speak. Then Luke joins us to review the latest Jordan Peele movie "Us". Follow us on Twitter: @lamedudespod, @lilhuntyytwitch, @zlanj_ Follow us on Twitch: lilhuntyy, zlanj Video version of this episode on YouTube: https://bit.ly/2O2jANU EMAIL US NICE COMMENTS AND TOPICS: lamedudespodcast@gmail.com

SHOW NOTES Our buddy David is now a priest! Fr. David Hust has a nice ring to it. It was awesome watching a friend of 17 years become a Roman Catholic Priest and celebrate his first Mass. It was a very traditional sung Mass and was just beautiful. Then Luke gives us his 5 points on how Catholic Dating Does Have to Suck (but probably will).

This is Episode 2 in our series on Acts! In part 1(0-10:50), the guys cover the story of Pentecost in Acts 2. Jon notes how remarkable this story is. Tim agrees, but responds that the Jews had been waiting for a promised outpouring of God’s spirit. And the way that it happened, with tongues of fire hovering over peoples’ heads and a violent rushing wind, is different than what was expected. Jon asks a question about the difference between “tongue” and “language” in the original Greek. In part 2 (10:50-23:45), Tim asks, where the the other places are in the Bible where fire is used to show God’s presence. The burning bush with Moses, the fire in the Tabernacle, and several others. Tim says the point of “tongues of fire” in the Pentecost story is to show that God’s presence is dwelling in men and women. God has chosen to tabernacle himself with people. Paul later writes “you are the temple of God” meaning that quite literally, Heaven and Earth now meet in the bodies of God’s people. Then Luke chooses to outline all the different Jews in Jerusalem from Pentecost. He specifically names 15 different places the Jews are from. Tim points out that many times this scene gets mistaken for “multi-ethnic” when at this point, it is not just “multi-cultural” but “mono-ethnic”. Meaning they are all Jews, but from different cultures around the world. In part 3 (23:45-30:45), Tim continues to outline the Pentecost story. He says Peter’s sermon is evidence that God has answered the question the disciples asked Jesus, “when will the kingdom be restored to Israel?”. Peter is now declaring that God’s kingdom is here in Jerusalem and it will begin spreading outward as Jews leave Pentecost and return to their homelands. In part 4 (30:45-end), the guys briefly cover the references between this story and other stories and lists in the Old Testament. For example, the list of 15 different regions in Acts 2 overlaps with a list of the exiles in Isaiah 11. Tim says that next up in the story is “The Tale of Two Temples”. The physical Temple of Judaism is now in direct conflict with the spiritual temple of God dwelling in humans. Thank you to all our supporters! more at www.thebibleproject.com Show Resources: Eckhard J. Schnabel, Acts, Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament Alan Thompson, The Acts of the Risen Lord Jesus Produced By: Dan Gummel. Jon Collins. Matthew Halbert-Howen Music: Color Pallette 90: Dan Koch Do it Right: Dan Koch Fall Back: Dan Koch Defender Instrumental: Rosasharn Music

The Annunciation teaches us about how God relates with us and what trusting Him really means.  God, who is almighty and all-knowing, the creator of the universe, asks Mary to participate in His most important plan: the salvation of the world. Then He waits for her permission! We see God asking and waiting throughout the history of salvation. With the few who respond, He does great things. This is God's way with us. He asks permission to come to us and to work through us. Trust depends on our faith that God is asking us permission to work in and through us.  But it also means that we are attentive to give Him that permission when it goes against what we expected and desired.  God's work in us often is often very different than what we expected.  It is not enough to want God just as a benefactor, to do our bidding, to give us all the good things we want. Then we pray that all goes as we expect and say we trust that God will come through. That means that if a loved one is sick, they will heal; if I'm looking for a job, a dream house, etc., it will come through as I expect it. Then we can say, “God is good, I trust He will give it to me”!!  But do I also pray giving God permission to contradicts my expectations, for the grace to embrace with confidence His will, trusting that it is the best? That is what Jesus did at Gethsemane. He showed us the price of trusting in the Father and why few do.  This means that It is not enough to obey the Commandments. That is to live by the law. Christ has given us His Holy Spirit so that we see, desire, and act as one with His heart. That means that God wants a personal relationship with us and wants to direct all the decisions we take, including those of our daily life. The Lord wants to give us His plans, His desires, His love.  We are tempted with spiritual laziness I may think that if God wants something from me, He can just tell me, and I will do it.  Trusting in God requires the hard work of discerning God's will for us. We cannot presume we know it. It may be that at times the Lord will come to us in a striking way, as the angel speaking to Mary. But even Mary had to struggle. Lc 1, 26 “she was greatly troubled at the saying, and considered in her mind what sort of greeting this might be.” The angel had to tell her, “do not be afraid”. Mary did not understand and asked questions: Lc 1, 34 “How shall this be, since I have no husband?” Then Luke tells us that “the angel departed from her.” To trust, Mary needed to continue to listen to God, now speaking in the silent movements of the Spirit in her heart. She heard from the angel that Elizabeth was with child but no further instructions in that regard. But in her heart, she listened to the Spirit moving her to do the most difficult, the most dangerous” to go serve. She trusted because her love consumed her, and she was attentive to the Lord, no attachments, no distractions could interfere.  The disciples sincerely trusted Jesus; they left everything to follow Him. But their trust had to grow. Jesus lamented that they were slow to understand the signs meant to teach them to trust in what seemed impossible or what went against their natural hopes. Only later they realized the power of the cross and that they had not yet abandoned everything as they thought. They were still thinking as natural men think and not as God thinks. We, too, need to have our minds opened to know the will of God. If our priority is not to listen to God, if we do not expect Him to actually speak, if we do not keep at it in prayer, seeking and waiting upon the Lord, then we will be distracted and guided by other voices.  At the Last Judgement, the damned will ask, “when did we see you hungry…” They did not respond to God because they did not see Him in the way they expected.  When we die, I think that we will be dismayed to see how much God wanted to entrust to us, how much He wanted to draw us to...

Continuing to talk about the latest Star Wars film at length, going through the storyline and giving my thoughts on the characters, events and the audience backlash. Transcript available below. Episode page: https://wp.me/p4IuUx-87j  Transcript (95% complete) OK, so if you check the length of this episode you’ll see it’s more than 2 hours long - Yes, this is definitely the longest episode of LEP I’ve ever done! And this is part 2 of a double episode. If you put parts 1 and 2 together that adds up to nearly 3.5 hours of me talking about Star Wars The Last Jedi. Added to that, the next episode will also be about Star Wars - and that will be a conversation between my dad, my brother and me. So, this has become something of a Star Wars marathon on Luke’s English Podcast. Those of you who are fans of Star Wars will probably be happy about that! Those of you who aren’t interested in Star Wars, or if you just think this film completely sucks - of course you could just skip this episode - I’ll be uploading more non-Star Wars episodes soon, I promise. OK, so strap in then, let’s embark on part 2 of this epic Star Wars themed episode. Hi, welcome back to the podcast. This is part 2 of a double episode I’m doing about Star Wars: The Last Jedi. In this one I’m going to continue going through the storyline of the film and giving my thoughts and feelings about the characters and events. I thought I’d be able to do all of this in one episode but I have got a bit carried away so I’ve split it into 2 parts. You should listen to part 1 before listening to this... If you’re not a fan of Star Wars you could just skip this one. I’m recording it really for the people who’ve seen the film. Spoiler alert - I’m revealing lots of details about the film, so you should wait until you have seen the film before you listen to this. There is a script for most of what I’m saying on the episode page on my website so you can read along while listening, or just check for certain words and phrases that you’ll hear me use. If you’re listening in the LEP app, just click the link for the episdoe page in the episode description - that will allow you to read the script while you’re listening. After this episode there will be another one about Star Wars - and that will be a chat with my brother and my Dad that I recorded just after we all saw the film together about a week ago. I realise I’m devoting quite a lot of podcast time to this new film - but I just really enjoy talking about it right at this moment and as far as I’m concerned that’s enough of a reason for me to do this on the podcast. Don’t worry, I won’t be doing Star Wars forever of course and we’ll get back to other topics and themes on the podcast soon. OK then, so I expect the ones still listening to this are the Star Wars fans - so, let’s now continue where I left off. I was describing that moment when General Leia gets blasted into space when the bridge of her ship gets blown up. I said that this is quite a controversial scene... I admit that this scene is weird and we’ve never seen this before in a Star Wars film, but I really don’t think it’s as bad or ridiculous as some people think. So, Leia is hanging in space in zero gravity after the bridge of her ship has been blown up. She’s hanging in zero gravity. Apparently now we have zero gravity in space. Now - there is no consistency regarding the science in these films as we’ve seen already many times. This is not science fiction - there doesn’t need to be consistent, logical physics. This is a film series in which there are explosions in space, a huge planet sized space station that blows things up with lazers and a mystical force that allows people to control minds, lift objects and even project lightning from their fingers. In this particular scene. The science serves the characters, the action and the plot, and it can be bent this way and that. We are supposed to just suspend our disbelief and go with the vague rules of this universe. In this case, in this scene, there is zero gravity in space and so Leia is just hanging there. It seems that her skin maybe beginning to freeze, which is what would happen in space I suppose. She looks dead. But then her fingers twitch and her eyelids open. When I saw this I immediately thought - she’s using the force to keep herself alive. It’s a survival thing. Then she extends her arm and floats back towards the ship. Some people say she flies and they get very angry and upset saying “The force doesn’t let you fly”. Well - first of all, she’s not flying - she’s floating through zero gravity. It wouldn’t require much force power to do that, right? There’s no atmosphere or gravity so it just requires a little bit of force power to pull herself back to the ship. Also, we know that Leia is force sensitive but up until this point her power has just been to communicate with Luke through the force, to feel and sense things through the force and perhaps the suggestion that she’s been influencing events through the force for a while - like perhaps helping that bomber in the opening battle sequence, and influencing Kylo’s decision not to attack the fleet and so on. So she has the force but she’s never used it to her full potential. It’s not hard to imagine that in a crucial moment like this that she’d be capable of keeping herself alive and pulling herself back to the ship through zero gravity. We see this slightly odd, yet strangely beautiful image of Leia floating through space in the middle of a battle. It’s eerie and we’ve never seen anything like this before. Again, a lot of people hate this scene, but I think they’re being a bit hysterical. This has never happened before - it’s not consistent! Yep, well a lot of people complained about episode 7 because it contained nothing new. This is something new and it’s not completely far fetched. She’s not flying, she’s floating in zero gravity. Leia can’t fly ok? She’s not superwoman. It’s zero gravity. She’s just floating. So, I’m fine with this scene, but only fine with it. They could have done this differently. Other criticisms of this scene include the fact that Leia uses the force here just to save herself, other characters die and she could have saved them. Well, let’s face it - this film is all about breaking away from the old stuff and that means that some of the old characters have to die, and that includes someone like Admiral Akhbar- the guy who looks like a fish. I’m not that bothered that Akbar is gone. I liked him - I had the Admiral Akbar toy when I was a child, but it’s fine - we can let him go. These are tragic events. But maybe she could have used the force differently - like perhaps she could have somehow contained the explosion and held the bridge together - but that surely would have taken much more force strength and ability. I reckon keeping herself alive and then floating back to the ship is consistent with the fact that she’s never fully trained or developed her force abilities. This moment is also weird and spooky considering the fact that we all know that Carrie Fisher died just after making this film. Here in the film we see her character apparently die, but then her eyes open and she makes a miraculous recovery. I find this spooky and odd, but it doesn’t make me angry or make me want to throw my toys out of the pram and weep for the death of Star Wars. That’s a bit hysterical. Also, there’s a sense that in the negative reaction to this scene (and to quite a lot of the rest of the film) there’s a bit of sexism going on. Perhaps people just don’t like the idea of a woman flying. I know one person in particular who expressed this opinion - like “What, women can fly now?” “Women can do anything in movies now - this is ridiculous - it’s just rampant feminism”. Again, that seems like a slightly hysterical reaction. How many times have we seen flying men in movies? How many times are male heroes celebrated by seeing them fly through the air? Tons of times. Superman, Batman (alright he doesn’t fly but almost) Iron Man, Spiderman, Thor and tons of others. Nobody complains about flying men, it happens all the time and it’s not going to stop happening. Then we get one flying woman (who isn’t even flying) and some people throw their toys out of the pram and start complaining about rampant feminism. It’s not the end of the world. Some people might say - but it’s not consistent with the films. I’d say - yes it is consistent - she’s using her latent force abilities to briefly preserve her life and to pull herself back to the ship. You might disagree with me on this one - because it’s a really divisive moment in the film and I think a lot of people just couldn’t handle it and this was the moment when they just gave up on the film. If that’s you - write your thoughts in the comment section. What exactly is wrong with this moment? Put your thoughts into words. I’ve given you my point of view, why not give me yours? So, Leia gets back to the ship and is in a coma. She’s replaced by Vice Admiral Holdo. Ahch-To - Luke & Rey Words I used to describe Luke Skywalker: grisled haggard he looks like a wizened old hermit Luke chucks the lightsaber away. I was really shocked - gobsmacked. My jaw dropped at this moment. I was expecting him to refuse the lightsaber but I didn’t expect him to do that, but I went with it. I was shocked but I went with it. This is another one of those moments that’s a deal breaker for a lot of people. Some people see Luke throw the light sabre over his shoulder and they find it to be a fundamental problem. I can understand that. I think it seems a bit dismissive and casual, but this is where Luke is as a character in the story. He has been on this island for god knows how long and he’s utterly lost faith in the Jedi and in the so-called myth of Luke Skywalker. He doesn’t believe in these symbols any more and he has no time for people who expect him to live up to the legend of Luke Skywalker and that’s because at one point he believed in his own legend himself and as a result of that he thought he could do more than he could and this ended in complete failure. He couldn’t live up to all the expectations that he even had of himself. Some people say this is not consistent with Luke’s character, but I say - why not? Why can’t Luke have gone in this direction in the 30 years since Return of the Jedi? I found it really interesting that Luke had undergone such dramatic and traumatic changes since episode 6. Luke’s character in this film is about learning from failure, about being fallible, about struggling with expectations, about the legacy of the Jedi, about the heavy burden that is being the last jedi. In this film they could have made Luke a massively powerful hero who takes on the First Order armed only with his laser sword, but instead they went for a more complex study of a man who has failed, isolated himself and then slowly comes to terms with what it means to be a myth and how he can use this to do powerful things. Rey hangs around but Luke refuses to talk to her. We get some scenes which show Luke’s weird and eccentric lifestyle on the island. He fishes for massive fish in the sea, he lives among the porgs, he even drinks milk from the breast of some kind of weird sea mammal. Not directly from the breast, but he fills a flask with green milk that he gets from the breast of a weird creature that looks a bit like a walrus or something. He then drinks the milk and it drips down his beard, and he stares at Rey while doing this, looking pleased with himself. He’s being purposefully disgusting, and Rey thinks it’s weird. The green milk scene is another controversial one - controversial meaning that it has split opinions. Some people say this kind of thing has no place in Star Wars and that the humour didn’t really work. Personally I was fine with it. Both times I saw this in the cinema I was one of the only ones laughing at this moment. I don’t mind a bit of weird humour and I think Star Wars has always featured this kind of thing. For example - Jabba The Hutt is a weird creepy slug which licks its slimy lips in a really creepy way when looking at female characters, and there are plenty of other weird moments in the original trilogy. None of them are as blatant as this, but it’s not a complete departure from the world of Star Wars in my opinion. And just personally, I found it really funny. I also thought that this was Luke testing Rey a bit, in a similar way to how Yoda tested Luke in The Empire Strikes Back. When Luke first arrives on Degobah to meet Yoda (and he doesn’t know what Yoda looks like) Yoda meets him and makes him think he’s just a weird and annoying little creature. He pretends to fight with R2D2, steals Luke’s food and seems totally eccentric and strange. It’s only later that Yoda reveals himself to be a great master. It’s as if he needed to show Luke that you shouldn’t expect heroes to look like heroes and that true heroism is in your actions not in your appearance. Also this is a trope in a lot of kung fu movies from the 70s. The kung fu master appears as a sort of crazy fool who tests the patience of the main apprentice, giving him lots of annoying tests - and secretly he’s training the apprentice without him realising it. I like Luke’s grumpy, weird side in this and I found it to be a pleasant surprise. Anyway, Rey tries unsuccessfully to persuade Luke to join the Resistance and Luke hides in his cabin. Chewie smashes the door in. Luke finds out that Han is dead. This doesn’t change his mind, but maybe a little bit. He visits the Milennium Falcon - this is a big nostalgia moment. The first time we’ve seen Luke on the Falcon since Episode 5 maybe. He finds R2D2 and the moment they reunite is pretty amazing. Luke removes his hood in order to see him and it reminded me of when Obiwan removed his hood to look at R2D2 in Episode 4. Them reuniting made me well up...! I’m not ashamed to admit it. R2 is so important to Luke’s whole journey. He’s the whole reason he ended up on this adventure in the first place. R2 seems to try and persuade Luke to join the Resistance but Luke says “no way”. R2’s response is brilliant. He just plays the hologram of Princess Leia from Episode 4. Luke says “that was a cheap move” or something - and it’s a bit true, this is a pretty cheap way for R2 to persuade Luke, but also a fairly cheap way for the film to make any Star Wars fan feel emotional. R2D2 goes straight for the jugular (vein). This was always one of the most magical moments in the original film. When he was a frustrated farmboy dreaming of having adventures, this hologram of a beautiful princess asking for help completely captured his imagination and catapulted him on this journey into adventure, heroism, the force and self-discovery. The function of it here is that it brings Luke one step further towards remembering who he was and it is a stark contrast to who he has become now. But he’s still committed to the fact that he can’t be involved because he’s convinced that he’ll do more harm than good. In fact Luke has cut himself off from the force completely. He’s lost faith in the Jedi order. But you get the sense that he’s not a lost cause. He acts like he’s definitely against the idea of coming back, but we see that he is quite curious about Rey and there is still a spark of the old Luke Skywalker in there. At one point Rey seems to be called to a big old tree on the island, which I think is the original Jedi temple - or a force tree - I’m not sure of it’s significance completely but I expect it is mentioned in one of the books or something. The tree also houses the sacred Jedi texts. Rey seems drawn to this place and Luke notices this and follows her from a distance. That’s when he becomes curious about Rey - when he notices that she’s been drawn to this significant place and there’s an interesting exchange there where we see that Rey is confused and doesn’t know who she is. She doesn’t understand how she has her force sensitivity and who her parents are (she’s feeling a bit force sensitive). She’s desperately looking for answers to the questions of her identity while also trying to get Luke to come and help the Resistance. She seems lost and is desperate for guidance. No idea of how the time works here - all this is going on while the Resistance are battling against time up in space somewhere. Perhaps Ach-To runs on different time cycles. God knows. I don’t think it matters that much. Luke finally agrees to train Rey a bit. “Tomorrow at dawn - 3 lessons”. Again this is like a kung fu movie or a samurai movie or something, and that is really cool. 3 lessons about the Jedi and why they have to end. All the while, Rey and Kylo keep having weird force visions in which they are connected and they chat. It’s a bit like secret Skype or something. ForceTime. She berates him for killing Han Solo and says he’s a monster. He makes fun of the fact that she is looking for parental figures everywhere. They grow strangely close, mainly because they’re in similar situations. She’s desperate for guidance. He’s curious about her force abilities, and perhaps is working out if she is an enemy or perhaps a potential ally. They both are alienated from their so-called mentors. It’s weird and I didn’t know which way this would go. I expected that they’d join forces somehow and fight against both Snoke and Luke Skywalker, but I didn’t believe Luke Skywalker would be a real antagonist. Like I said before - there’s nothing like watching a Star Wars film when you don’t know what is going to happen next. Skywalker gives Rey some lessons in the force, but his intention is to break down her misconceptions about what it is, and what the Jedi really are. I could have had more of this to be honest, but then again in the original trilogy there wasn’t much detail about the force either. With the force I think the more you explain it, the less interesting it becomes. In The Phantom Menace there were these things called midiclorians, which are living organisms that actually carry the force - and it was possible to measure, scientifically, how much force a person had based on their midichlorian count - and because this is physical that this could be genetic and handed down through family connections. But midichloreans were never spoken of again because they took the magic out of the force. The version of the force we have here is back to how it was in Episode 4 - a mystical energy that binds the galaxy together. Rey doesn’t understand the force at all - thinking it’s just about controlling people’s thoughts and about moving rocks. This is the childish version of the force. Skywalker tells her it’s a lot more than that, giving a similar version that Obiwan gave to him in episode 4 - that it’s a neutral natural power that exists in the balance between everything. There are some funny moments where Luke makes fun of her and the way she misunderstands the nature of the force. Again, I’m not bothered by the jokey bits because this is Star Wars not Batman The Dark Knight. One funny moment is when he tells her to ‘reach out’ and she takes it literally. He means that she should reach out with her feelings, but she reaches out with her arm and he tickles it with a piece of grass saying “can you feel that? That’s the force!” and then he slaps her hand and says “that’s not how the force works” or something. Again, this reminds me of training sequences from kung fu movies which have some humour in them and involve the pupil getting it wrong and the master teasing them. Then Rey does reach out to the force with her feelings and Luke gives her a little lesson in what it is, and how to connect with it. He’s shocked that she immediately gets pulled towards the dark side, which is represented by a weird dark cave under the island. The rock under her cracks and she has a weird vision of being covered in water. Luke is shocked that Rey didn’t resist the dark side and he refuses to train her any more because the last time this happened it all went horribly wrong. He also attempts to explain to Rey how he has lost faith in the Jedi, how they were wrong and arrogant in assuming that they owned the force and how their legacy is failure. In the prequels the Jedi were blinded by their own arrogance - they didn’t see how a powerful sith was taking control of the senate right under their noses. Lack of vision etc. Again - more hubris. They were too sure of themselves and that’s why they failed. I find this pretty interesting. A lot of that is true, right? I’m not surprised that Luke has gone this way and I just find it interesting from a character point of view. Later, I’m not sure when, we get more info about what happened between Luke and Ben Solo (Kylo Ren). The story is told 3 times, and each time you get a slightly different version of events. First time is what Luke says to Rey. He tells her that he sensed growing darkness in Ben and he went to see him during the night to try and reason with him, but Ben flew into a rage and pulled down the building on top of his head, and then destroyed the temple. The second version of the story is what Kylo tells Rey during one of their ForceTime sessions. He tells her that Luke didn’t give the complete story and that Luke had come with his lightsabre to murder Kylo in his sleep. A lot of fans can’t handle this and just believe that Luke would never do this and that their childhood is ruined and all that, but it’s not the final version of events. The third version of the story is the true one. Luke explains to Rey that he had become aware of a growing darkness in Ben and that he struggled with what to do about it. He went to Ben’s room in the night to read Ben’s mind and was so shocked by the darkness inside him that in a moment of compulsion he ignited his lightsabre in order to kill him and rid the galaxy of another possible evil tyrant, but that as soon as he ignited his sabre, he regretted the decision and realised that this meant killing his nephew, one of his students in a cowardly way. So he immediately changed his mind when he realised what he was doing. I think this just gives Luke’s character more depth. Remember that he was the last jedi and perhaps he’d taken on too much in agreeing to train these young students. That’s a big job and perhaps he wasn’t really capable of doing it all on his own. Maybe Yoda and Obiwan’s force ghosts hadn’t visited him for ages so he hadn’t had guidance from them. As he said - he believed in his own legend and this was his failing. He took on too much and ultimately wasn’t able to handle the task of restarting the jedi order on his own, taking on his sister’s troubled son who was also incredibly powerful in the force but touched by the dark side and was already being manipulated and controlled by Snoke through the force. It was all too much for one guy. I think there is a lesson here and that is that success can be very dangerous - in this case Luke had success in the fact that he helped to redeem Darth Vader and kill the emperor. This can lead to a false sense of confidence which can lead ultimately to failure. There’s a lot of that in this film. It’s tragic, but at least there’s more depth to it than just gymnastic lightsabre duels and “being badass”. Anyway, Luke tells his story - of how he immediately changed his mind and was not going to kill Ben, but then Ben woke up and saw Luke standing over him with his ignited lightsabre and that’s when he pulled down the building on top of Luke and destroyed the temple. It’s a sort of misunderstanding that makes Ben think Luke really was going to kill him. In any case, Ben rejects Luke and he then probably gave his allegiance to Snoke. Luke again tells Rey to get off the island. He’s gone there to die, etc. This pushes Rey closer to Kylo who is the only one who seems to understand her. Will she turn to the dark side to be with him? Will he turn good? No idea. Not sure of the chronology here. At one point Rey visits the dark cave, like Luke does in Empire Strikes Back. This is a really cool and spooky sequence where she seems to see herself trapped in a time line or perhaps it’s just her reflection repeated again and again. She follows this line of reflections until she’s face to face with a mirror and she’s convinced that this will reveal the truth she’s been looking for - her parents. A dark figure approaches her in the mirror. Who is it? Luke? Snoke? Han? Leia? Another figure from Star Wars lore? In the end, she finds herself staring at her own reflection. What does this mean? I guess it means that she’s on her own and her parents just aren’t important. Also, at some point here, Luke decides to reconnect with the force. He sits on the stone altar on the clifftop and meditates. I think he makes a connection with Leia, who is in her coma. I think this is where Luke realises a lot of things - but it’s not actually shown in the film. By reconnecting with the force here, I think he gets strength from his renewed connection with Leia, realises that there is something he can do. Basically, by reconnecting with the force he realises his power and perhaps his hope again, or realises the importance of Rey. I’m not sure. Rey and Kylo have a Forcetime - again they’re getting closer to each other all the time. I think in this one Kylo is topless which kind of amps up the sexual tension between them. Rey seems to believe in Kylo more than she does in Luke at this point and she probably believes she can turn him to the light side of the force etc, but we still don’t really know how Kylo feels. He’s hard for us to read - he’s just blank and unreadable, which is a strength in terms of the acting performance. He could be a bit vulnerable, perhaps a bit lost, but possibly pure evil - we don’t really know! They actually touch, and when they do Luke bursts into Rey’s hut and is shocked to discover them in contact, and he destroys the hut and breaks the connection. Then there’s a sort of fight between Rey and Luke, where Rey demands to know if Luke really did try to kill Kylo, and she attacks him with her staff, and Luke defends himself with a stick and disarms her. To me this looks like he’s still training her. When he disarms her, she force grabs the blue lightsabre and appears to have beaten Luke who kind of falls to the ground and gives up - but if you watch closely we see his hand is raised and I’m sure that he could have summoned his green lightsabre whenever he wanted in order to defend himself. I think he let Rey get the better of him. This is when he confesses that he did momentarily contemplate killing Ben, but that he instantly changed his mind. So - just to set the record straight on this, Luke was not going to kill Ben in his sleep. The idea flashed across his mind when he saw that Snoke had turned him to the dark side, but he instantly changed his mind. I say that because a lot of the hardcore fans have lost faith in this film because they thought Luke was going to murder a child in his sleep - he wasn’t. Rey then decides to leave the island in order to go to Kylo because she believes she can turn him. Luke says “No, it won’t go the way you think”. It’s a bit like that moment in Empire Strikes Back when Luke goes to confront Vader but Yoda tells him he’s not ready yet. Rey is delivered to Kylo Ren in an escape pod from the Millenium Falcon and then we get one of my favourite moments in the film. Kylo puts Rey in handcuffs and on the way to Snoke’s throne room they have a conversation. She explains that she’s confident Kylo will turn to the light because she’s had a vision. But Kylo explains that he’s also had a vision that Rey will turn to the dark. I suspected that Kylo would turn to the light, because there was more evidence for it. I didn’t really believe Rey would turn to the dark side, but there were a few things that suggested that she could - e.g. she was drawn to the dark side during her vision while training with Luke. She is pretty impulsive and often strikes out in anger, it seems - and that’s often the way towards the dark side. Then the doors open and Rey meets Snoke for the first time. Meanwhile, Luke goes to destroy the Force Tree and the ancient Jedi texts. Yoda appears and stops him. It’s wonderful to see Yoda again. He’s not CGI Yoda, it’s puppet Yoda. They actually used the original mould from Return of the Jedi. It works. Basically, he tells Luke that this is all a lesson and that Luke is a good master because he is teaching Rey the value of failure. “The greatest teacher, failure is.” - he says. Apparently Yoda still hasn’t perfected his grammar, despite failing to speak it correctly for probably about 900 years or something. Anyway, it’s a good lesson and it brings some redemption to Luke - who feels like he’s a lost cause. Everyone has to fail and it’s your failures that help you to improve. Success brings over-confidence and arrogance sometimes, whereas failure and accepting your failures brings us opportunities to learn. It’s true for learning English too - our failures are great learning opportunities. We have to say something wrong a few times before we can say it correctly. Expecting to get everything right first time is just unrealistic. Accept failure as the best way to learn, and not something to be ashamed of, you can overcome your problems and learn to be really strong. Yoda then destroys the force tree and (apparently) the sacred Jedi texts, as if to say to Luke - yes, you’re right - let’s destroy the past and start again. Luke is shocked that Yoda has done this (and apparently force ghosts can summon lightning now in Star Wars - fair enough, we were looking for some new force abilities, right? Apparently force ghosts can interact with the real world now - ok, fine) The tree burns, containing the books - and Luke says “But the sacred jedi texts!” and Yoda says “Read them have you? Page turners, they are not.” I laughed out loud at this line. Yoda’s two lessons for Luke: Failures are valuable learning experiences. Students always grow beyond their masters. Back to Snoke’s room. Snoke reads Rey’s mind, plays around with her - she attempts to fight back several times - grabs her light sabre but snoke makes it fly around the room - she grabs Kylo’s light sabre and Snoke flings her around the room. He seems impressed with her tenacity and he actually says “such spunk!” which made me laugh, because… well the word “spunk”. Do you know what that means? It’s a bit rude. Here are the two definitions. Courage, bravery, strength of character. Semen (offensive) He means defintion 1, but still - it’s a bit creepy that Snoke gleefully talks about “spunk”. Snoke is a horrible, creepy old git. He’s also really arrogant and wealthy - he wears a gold robe a bit like Hugh Hefner the playboy guy. He’s horrible. But the CGI motion capture is brilliant. He looks really realistic. Good job Andy Serkis and the special effects team. Snoke then reads Rey’s mind. I think he was considering whether she could be turned to the dark side, perhaps to become his apprentice and replacement for Kylo. That’s often the way it goes - but he summarises that she’s too pure or can’t be turned or something. So, he decides that Kylo should kill her, perhaps to complete his training. Meanwhile Kylo looks at the situation quite blankly except for subtle reactions and the movement of his eyes. It reminds me of how Vader observed the Emperor when he was attempting to turn Luke to the dark side. We suspected that Vader was loyal in his heart to Luke. Similarly, I suspect that Kylo hates Snoke and feels resentment towards how manipulative he is, and we suspect that Kylo has feelings for Rey or at least believes that Rey might join him somehow. I wonder if this is a romantic feeling or a strategic one. Snoke orders Kylo to kill Rey, and we still don’t know what Kylo is thinking. Rey looks up at him and simply says “Ben” - appealing to his good side. At this point Snoke gets really carried away, proclaiming that he can see Kylo’s thoughts and that Kylo is turning his lightsabre and is going to ignite it in order to kill his true enemy. But secretly Kylo is using the force to turn Luke Skywalker’s lightsabre which is sitting on the table next to Snoke, and as Snoke is convinced that he’s seeing Kylo’s intentions to kill Rey, perhaps he’s not seeing it clearly and in fact Kylo ignites Luke’s lightsabre killing Snoke. I found this really surprising and satisfying. The look on Snoke’s face - he’s so shocked! It’s also a really well-directed sequence. The lightsabre stabs Snoke in the side and then we see the scene from Kylo’s point of view, and Kylo pulls the sabre towards him, cutting Snoke in half! The ignited sabre flies through the air and Rey’s hand comes up to grab it. Rey stands and for a moment Kylo and her face each other and we wonder whether Kylo is going to attack her, or what will happen... Then everything goes in slow motion as Rey and Kylo, are attacked by 8 Praetorian guards and they fight back to back on the same side against the guards. This is an absolutely wicked sequence. The guards are fantastic. They wear this weird red armour which appears to be able to deflect some lightsabre blows. They also have different weapons - swords, staffs, a sort of whip that becomes a sword. It all happens incredibly quickly and the screen is filled with several fights at the same time. Sparks fly, Rey screams and roars as she fights, Kylo’s fighting style is brutal and sketchy. It’s raw power. At one point the wall catches fire and in the middle of the fight the room starts buring down. One of the guards gets thrown into some kind of fan unit and gets chopped into pieces. It all happens incredibly quickly and intensely. Rey also has some good moves. Again - I don’t know how she learned to fight like this. Let’s just say that growing up on a rough junk planet like Jakku meant that she had to learn how to defend herself, add to that the fact that she’s obviously gifted with force abilities and has had some light sabre fighting experience now - she’s also brave and intelligent. The two of them manage to fight off the guards and defeat them, but it’s not easy. At one point it looks like they’ve been beaten. Kylo is unarmed, Rey is held by one of the guards, but she manages to get out of it by dropping her lightsabre, getting out of the guard’s grip and then catching the sabre again in mid air before dispatching the guard. Kylo is still being held by the last guard, who is kind of strangling him. Rey quickly throws her sabre to Kylo who catches it and ignites it instantly, sending the beam through the guards face, who drops away, dead. What I like about this moment is that Kylo catches the lightsabre, ignites it, lets the guard drop and steps forward and he never takes his eyes of Rey at any point, and never blinks. Then, still staring intensely at Rey he steps forward. Rey tells him there’s still time and that they can save the Resistance. She assumes he’s turned good, but he hasn’t. He tells Rey they should let the past die and start anew - kill Snoke, kill Skywalker, let the Resistance die. Rey is sort of heartbroken and just says “Ben, don’t do this”. He also tells her who her parents are - I guess he saw it in a vision or something. He says that they were junk traders who just sold her off as a slave for money and that now they’re dead and buried in the desert. “You’re nobody, nothing…” “but not to me”. He begs Rey to join her, but she’s heartbroken and won’t do it. She sees that Kylo is beyond redemption at this point. I think Kylo has crossed a line and he’s the new Snoke. All these changes of position happen really fast. Surely, this is the interesting part of this film - what is really going on in Kylo’s head? Will he go good or bad? In Return of the Jedi we have similar questions about Darth Vader and ultimately he turns good, but in this one Kylo doesn’t. He’s the bad guy. He wants to kill her friends and he’s being very manipulative. He might be lying about her parents, even though she says she’s always known deep down that they abandoned her. But maybe he’s lying or something. Perhaps we’ll see. Or perhaps her lineage isn’t important and it doesn't matter what your family connections are. Anyone can be strong in the force. She goes to grab Luke’s lightsaber from Kylo and it ends up suspended mid air between them as they both struggle to grab it. The lightsabre explodes. In the film this part of the story is told in parallel with the other parts which I haven’t mentioned yet - namely the Finn and Rose storyline and the Poe/Admiral Holdo storyline. Finn and Rose storyline. Finn is going to escape and find Rey. Rose stops him. They work out together (cheesily) that the hyperspace tracking can be stopped if they disarm it from the lead ship. Finn has intel on the location of the tracker and they work out that they can get in and disable it, and save the Resistance. It’s surely a suicide mission. Poe agrees, and they call Maz Kanata for info. Maz Kanata is a crap character, isn’t she? A sort of vague orange Yoda who isn’t as interesting as Yoda. A complex and contrived plot is set up where Finn and Rose have to meet a code breaker who can help them access Snoke’s ship (is it Snoke’s ship or another ship - not sure). So they head to Canto Bite. “The worst type of people” Just park on the beach - bad move. But these kids don’t really know what they’re doing. A bit like the Cantina Bar but everyone’s rich. Weird horse things on a racetrack, they’re looked after by slave kids. Rose hates the town. Little drunk creature putting coins inside BB8. They get caught and thrown in jail. Pretty rubbish. Then Benicio Del Toro’s character turns up in the film. He’s great. I’ve always liked him in films. He’s an “engaging screen presence” to quote Mark Kermode. He overhears them discussing their plan and says he can get them in the room on the FO ship. Somehow he has a way to pick the lock and get out, and with BB8’s help they get away, so do Finn and Rose who escape on the horses, which smash up the casino resort before being released into the forest. This is a bit cheesy and feels a bit like a “message” about animal cruelty. I love animals, so fair enough - but it’s a very Disney moment. Anyway, DJ turns up in a ship with BB8 and they get rescued, and the fly towards the FO ship for their mission, which is to go undercover and turn off the hyperspace tracking, while the Resistance are still running away from the FO and slowly running out of fuel. DJ is an interesting character. He’s one of those ones who exists in the moral grey area between the good and bad sides, a bit like Boba Fett and even Han Solo at the start of Episode 4. I think this gives some much needed moral ambiguity. Also, he shows us that the rich people on Canto Bite make their money making and selling weapons to the FO and the Resistance. This adds a bit of complexity to the whole “intergalactic war thing” which underpins this whole series of films, and just shows that there’s more to this than just good guys vs bad guys - there’s a whole industry behind these wars that makes some people really rich. I think for some fans this is a bit too political for Star Wars, which is ironic considering how politics were involved so much in the prequel films. They make it onto the Supremacy (I think) and go undercover. BB8 disguises himself as one of those little black droids - a “mouse” droid I think they’re called. He’s disguised as one of them by hiding under a black dustbin as far as I can see. Amazingly nobody really notices them, including Finn who surely is a famous traitor by now … I say nobody notices them, actually an evil black version of BB8 does notice them. I love this evil BB8. He’s actually called BB9-E and it’s interesting how just a few changes in design makes this little droid instantly evil looking. I think I heard Mark Hamill talking about this in an interview - just a few changes - make the droid black, with a different shaped head and it just screams “Nazi!” It does look like a nazi version of BB8. Also, they manage to endow him with a lot of menace and malice. His red eye narrows with suspicion when he sees Rose, Finn, DJ and BB8. Long story short - they get to the tracker and it turns out that DJ has set them up - he betrayed them and he betrays the whole Resistance and their plan to escape to Crait because the FO offered him loads of money. Finn gets angry and calls him a traitor I think, or says something like “They’re the bad guys” - and DJ says something along the lines of “Good guys, bad guys, what’s the difference. They blow you up today, you blow them up next time…” I find his cynicism and pragmatism to be refreshing and interesting in the context of this binary good guys vs bad guys conflict. This is a really enjoyable bit of ambiguity and I really hope we see Benicio Del Toro’s character again. Perhaps the most interesting moments in all of Star Wars are the moments when there’s moral ambiguity - like the character of Boba Fett who is only interested in self-preservation and money, or the moments when Luke Skywalker appears to drift towards the dark side slightly in order to achieve things - specifically when defeating Darth Vader, or when Anakin/Vader goes dark and then light at the end. These are the interesting moments and DJ is an example of that. So, Finn & Rose are caught, The Resistance are screwed… Some people complain that the Finn and Rose storyline doesn’t achieve anything. But that’s the whole point - it’s another lesson in failure. Sometimes characters fail in films - it’s boring if they just succeed every single time - and anyway the Resistance were always the underdogs and Finn and Rose were never going to succeed with this plan anyway - it’s was a suicide mission. They’re lucky that they got this far. Back to what’s happening with The Resistance fleet. Leia is in a coma, Holdo takes over. Poe disagrees with her strategy - which appears to be just to jump ship and escape the fleet. He thinks it won’t work and it’s cowardly. He attempts a mutiny but gets stunned by Leia who she comes back. She uses a blaster set to stun. We haven’t seen this since episode 4 - blue rings firing out, rather than red or green laser blasts. It turns out that Holdo’s plan is not to just escape the ship, but to evacuate to a nearby planet that they’ve been heading for. Poe wasn’t aware of this because he was demoted. They plan to escape to Crait where there’s an old rebel base. They can use that as a defensive fortress and can call for support from around the galaxy. Just as well really, because Finn and Rose’s mission has failed. Then we discover that DJ has told the FO about this plan to evacuate to Crait and the FO begin attacking the escape vehicles as they head towards Crait. The Resistance is screwed now. Finn and Rose’s mission to stop the hyperspace tracking has failed and now the FO know about the other plan to escape to Crait and are blowing up the escape transports. Also, at this moment it looks like Rey is about to be executed by Kylo Ren. Finn and Rose are about to be executed. Oh yeah and Captain Phasma has turned up too - apparently she didn’t die in Episode 7. She doesn’t really do much, except being Finn’s nemesis. Leia and the rest of the Resistance have boarded the escape transports to Crait, but Holdo stays with the main fleet, and when she realises that the escape transports are being attacked she suddenly decides to sacrifice herself and aims the Raddus at The Supremacy (Snoke’s ship) and goes into hyperspace. WOW - a really mind blowing moment and done really well because the Raddus enters hyperspace and flies at lightspeed through the Supremacy and a bunch of other FO ships causing massive damage and a huge explosion and it’s all done instantly and in total silence, followed by a really cool sound effect. Silence used to great effect. The explosion on The Supremacy gives Finn and Rose the chance to avoid being executed and they fight back against Captain Phasma and the storm troopers while the whole hangar bay explodes around them. There are tie fighters falling on the floor and blowing up, AT-AT walkers crashing here and there. In the midst of all this chaos, Finn and Phasma have a battle and Finn fights with a lot of spirit. Rose shoots Phasma but the blast deflects off her armour. Cool moment. Phasma appears to have the upper hand in the fight and knocks Finn into a lift shaft, but clearly Phasma hasn’t seen the Original Trilogy - we know that there are moving platforms that go up and down in these shafts and of course Finn hasn’t fallen to his death, he reappears and smashes Phasma in the face, cracking her mask. She says “You’ll always be scum” before falling into an explosion. I doubt that she’s dead. She’s bound to come back next time. “Rebel scum” - this is the default insult for Rebels or Resistance fighters it seems. Scum is a bit like a dirty layer that floats on the top of old water or something. It’s just a generic insult, but it was used once in Return of the Jedi when an imperial officer said it to Han Solo and it sounded cool - so now the word is used a lot. These films still trade a lot on nostalgia for the old films, and it works. Finn and Rose manage to escape the burning ship - how? They’re rescued by BB8 driving a AT-ST “scout walker” thing, which made me go “Yeah, right?!” out loud in the cinema when I first saw it. People complain that Rey’s character is too perfect and that she can do anything and that this is unrealistic and unfair and some sort of feminist agenda or something, but BB8 (and R2D2 for that matter) is also a perfect character who seems to be able to do anything. He takes out FO guards, he can pilot an AT-ST walker, he can get blown up and assemble himself again, he can fix any problem on an X-Wing - but nobody complains about that. OK, so now the storylines come together. The Resistance (Leia, Poe and the few remaining other people) make it to Crait and set up their base there. God knows why it takes the FO so long to attack them here, but it does. Maybe they needed a bit of time to set up all the awesome weaponry that they’re going to use to smash through this big door to this old Rebel base where The Resistance are hiding. Finn and Rose escape The Supremacy with BB8 and join the Resistance on Crait. The idea is that The Resistance can defend themselves here, call for help and then wait for the help to arrive. The thing is, no help comes. None of their allies out in space care. No Lando Calrissian or anyone like that - nobody’s coming to help them. So it’s about a couple of hundred REsistance members vs the FO with their huge AT-M6 walkers. They have trenches, with some defensive weapons and this huge reinforced door protecting them, and a few very sketchy looking ground fighters, and that’s it. The FO have a massive battering ram cannon which is “Death Star technology” - basically a smaller version of the Death Star’s big green laser that can blow up planets. This is what they’ll use to break through the door. The idea is that The Resistance need to somehow destroy the cannon if they stand a chance of surviving. Now, what about Rey. Last time we saw her she was locked in a tug of war with Kylo over Luke’s blue lightsabre, which caught in the middle between the two of them, explodes. Apparently Kylo was knocked out by the explosion and Rey managed to escape in Snoke’s personal ship, and she took the fragments of the light sabre with her. We see Snoke’s dead body, his tongue sticking out, lying on the floor. Also both his hands were severed when Kylo killed him - this is pretty neat because someone always gets their hand or hands removed in Star Wars films, in this case it was Snoke, but he also lost the whole top half of his body. I wonder if we’ll ever find out Snoke’s back story, but I guess we never learned The Emperor’s backstory in the original films, he was just a powerful old dark side user and that’s it. I think we probably knew more about him than Snoke though, and I admit that we could have used just a little bit more exposition about Snoke - just a bit of detail. I think the hardcore fans are very upset about this, because they spent 2 years coming up with very elaborate theories about his origin - like, he’s Mace Windu, or he’s Darth Plageius (The Emperor’s old master). It seems he’s not that important, and anyway we don’t need an origin story for everyone, do we? I expect there will be a book about him coming out or whatever. Then General Hux comes into the room and can’t believe what he’s seeing - Snoke is dead, his tongue sticking out and everything. Kylo is still unconscious and Hux actually goes for his gun - he would have killed Kylo in his sleep probably - because they don’t like each other and Hux would probably like to take control of the FO, but Kylo wakes up. They argue and then Kylo force chokes Hux, which is very reminiscent of Darth Vader. Hux capitulates and calls Kylo “Supreme Leader” - “The Supreme Leader is dead - long live The Supreme Leader!” So, Kylo is in charge of the FO now. So, the confrontation on Crait. The FO approach the base with the big gun. The Resistance launch a counter attack with these beaten up old speeder things. There’s almost no way they can win. The Millennium Falcon turns up at the last minute and helps out by making all the Tie Fighters chase it. This is another big emotional moment, when the Falcon turns up to save the day - or save that particular moment anyway - the music swells (John Williams’ score is brilliant again) - there are some stunning visuals as the Falcon is chased by Tie Fighters through these crystal caves and tunnels under the surface of Crait. But ultimately, the Resistance mission to destroy the battering ram cannon can’t win and Poe calls it off. This shows us that he’s learned something about leadership and strategy from the beginning of the film. But Finn doesn’t want to give up and he’s about to sacrifice himself for the Resistance by flying his ship into the cannon in a suicide mission. I was convinced he was going to do it, but at the last minute Rose crashes into him and saves him. This is a really cheesy moment I have to say. First of all, you can see from the wide shots as Finn is flying that Rose is nowhere near him - but again, this is a bit like that moment with the detonator button that gets caught by Rose’s sister at the start of the film - movies often break the rules of physics like this - so I’m willing to let it slide. And then there’s the moment where after Rose saves Finn she gives a little speech saying “We don’t do this to destroy the things we hate, we do it to protect the ones we love,” and then she kisses him. So this is a slightly forced romantic moment first of all, but the sentiment is nice. We should protect the things we love rather than destroy the things we hate - and it’s all sweet and good and nice, but I thought about a moment from Episode 3 - a crucial moment when Anakin turns to the dark side. He decides to join Emperor Palpatine precisely because he thinks this is how he’s going to save the one he loves - Padme. He is seduced by the dark side because he wants to prevent Padme from dying. So, it’s all about point of view isn’t it. Protecting what you love, destroying what you hate - they’re sort of two sides of the same coin aren’t they? Still, I think the basic message is nice - love conquers hate. I do agree with that. Be careful of doing things for hateful reasons. We should be motivated by love, basically. But isn’t this a slightly selfish thing for Rose to do? She stopped Finn from potentially saving the entire Resistance just because she personally loves him. But maybe The Resistance were screwed anyway. I think the point is - we shouldn’t think about this toooooo much. We shouldn’t expect Star Wars to be this perfect flawless thing. As I said before, I think the good things in this film outweigh the bad things But then again - if you’re angry about this Star Wars film, that’s fine - it’s up to you. I’m not going to tell you you’re wrong. Everyone has their own subjective reaction to the film. So it looks like The Resistance are screwed then. Somehow Finn manages to fly back to the base or perhaps even drag Rose back there - I’m not sure how, but I dunno, maybe he used some of those trenches or something, or maybe one of the crashed speeders still worked. Leia looks defeated. She says that hope is lost. But then Luke Skywalker turns up. There’s an emotional moment when he speaks to Leia - they agree that Kylo wasn’t Luke’s fault, and Luke comforts Leia by giving her a memento of Han Solo - a pair of dice that used to hang in the Millenium Falcon. Luke then goes out to face the First Order armed with his Light Sabre. When I saw this I was really excited and yet didn’t know what to expect. Luke said it himself that he couldn’t face the entire FO armed only with a laser sword. Kylo, in his command ship, orders everyone to fire on Luke, using all their weapons. The AT-M6 walkers all fire on Luke. Kylo is enraged - shouting for more more more! This really is overkill. There’s just a huge cloud of red dust where the lasers are firing. Hux says “that’s enough” and the guns stop. Kylo slumps in a seat. He should be satisfied, but he’s not. He’ll probably never be satisfied. We’re all thinking - surely Luke isn’t dead! And of course he isn’t. He steps out of the cloud of red dust, unscathed. He looks up at Kylo’s ship and even brushes his shoulder dismissively, which is pretty cool. There’s something strange about Luke. He looks younger. His beard and hair are shorter. He has no dust on him. Kylo is furious again and instructs his soldiers to take him down to the surface to face Luke. Kylo says “I suppose you’ve come here to save my soul” Luke: No. This was awesome, I can’t really explain why. Also, Mark Hamill in this film is absolutely brilliant. He’s really developed as an actor since the original trilogy. He ignites his light sabre - and it’s the blue one. Weird, I thought the blue one got split in two when Kylo and Rey were fighting earlier. Kylo doesn’t seem to notice this because he’s in a rage. He ignites his crackling red light sabre. I love Kylo’s brutal style and the way he stands sort of hunched over. Luke looks really cool in his classic Jedi clothing. Kylo runs at Luke and attacks him but Luke manages to avoid all his attacks. He does some pretty cool moves where he kind of rolls out of the way, making Kylo really angry. This is not the epic gymnastic light sabre combat from the prequels. This is a lot more about the drama between the two characters. There’s a lot more emotion and feeling in this than in watching Anakin and Obiwan jumping from object to object swinging their lightsabres again and again until you’re emotionally uninvested in the action. This is much more like a Japanese samurai movie, where the swordplay is brief but intense. In fact Luke looks a lot like a samurai in this scene and that is fantastic. So atmospheric and powerful. An interesting detail in this fight is that Kylo’s feet leave red marks on the floor where the salt gets disturbed, but Luke’s feet make no impressions on the floor at all. Apparently you can also see salt particles falling from Kylo during the fight, but nothing falling from Luke. Only later do we realise that Luke isn’t really there at all - he’s doing a force projection from Ahch-to and it’s all part of a plan to mentally defeat Kylo while giving the remaining members of the Resistance a chance to escape. Luke tells Kylo - “today the Resistance is reborn and you can never defeat me.” He also does some Obiwan Kenobi stuff to him, saying “If you strike me down in anger I’ll always be with you, just like your father.” That’s got to hurt! Kylo angrily charges at him and swipes his lightsabre at Luke but the blade passes straight through his body. At the time I was thinking - wow, has Luke been hiding his power all this time? Is he immune to lightsabres? Then I thought, oh wow he’s a force ghost! Then it’s revealed that the real Luke is meditating on a rock in Ach-to. This whole thing is a force projection! Luke then says to Kylo - “see you around kid.” and disappears. That’s a Han Solo quote too! I think what this means is that Luke is going to haunt Kylo as a force ghost - he’s always going to be there and Kylo will never have peace, he’ll always be reminded of how he murdered his own father. Then Luke disappears and Kylo is in a rage again. What I like about this: We don’t get a big light sabre duel, but that makes a change - at least we have some really interesting character-based interaction. Luke manages to teach Kylo a lesson without using violence. He only uses defence. He defeats Kylo mentally. He sacrifices himself to save the Resistance. He shows Rey that the force isn’t just about lifting rocks, controlling people’s actions or being really good with a lightsabre - it’s also about introspection and peace. Also, I like the fact that in the midst of all this fighting, explosions - Luke has learned how to win a battle without using violence. In fact, I respect Luke’s decision to just go on an island to live like a hermit. At least he’s decided that he’s fed up with the incessant fighting and war. He’s perhaps the only character to say that he’s had enough of the fighting - and isn’t this a sort of logical progression of what he learned while facing the emperor in Episode 6. He threw his lightsabre away and refused to fight or give in to his anger because he is a Jedi. Don’t blame Luke for choosing to go to that island and for feeling like a failure - he was actually just trying his best to prevent any further catastrophe. This feels like the true way of the Jedi - from a certain point of view. Also, he’s demonstrating incredible force power by doing this projection. This is something new that we haven’t seen before. Again, some people are pissed off with this saying “That’s not how the force works!” but honestly I’m glad that we’re seeing some new force powers in this film. It’s about time we had some slightly new things. By doing this, Luke also manages to create the myth of Luke Skywalker, which will no-doubt be told again and again. He’s accepted his place as a myth and how important and powerful this can be as a way of inspiring new generations to have hope. This is beautiful. Luke has always been a symbol of hope, but he’s a fallible human who couldn’t always live up to his own myth, but he manages at the end to do it in his own way according to how he understands the light side of the force - using defence not attack, without using violence, fighting a mental battle. Then on Ach-To we see Luke collapse from the strain of doing this massive force projection. He climbs back up onto the rock and stares out across the ocean at the sunset, and it’s two suns. This made me cry! I couldn’t help it. It just took me straight back to the moment in Episode 4 when Luke was not much more than a boy staring across the desert at the dual sunset - full of aspiration and dreaming of adventure, and that’s how he ends his life. I can’t put it into words really, but this got me right in the feelings. It’s pretty ridiculous I know, but there it is. Luke then disappears in the same way Obiwan did and Yoda did. He becomes one with the force. I guess this means that he’ll be back as a force ghost in episode 9. Good - I really like Mark Hamill and I hope to see more from him. Meanwhile, the last remaining members of the Resistance have worked out that there must be a way to get out through the back of the caves by following the crystal foxes that live there. There’s quite a magical moment where one of the beautiful crystal foxes leads them to a gap at the back, but it’s filled with boulders. Rey is on the other side - she’s used the tracking device to follow their position from the surface, in the Falcon with Chewie. She works out that the pile of boulders is blocking them from escaping and she’s going to need to use the force to move them all. This is a bit ironic because earlier in the film Luke told her that the force isn’t about lifting rocks! But apparently sometimes it is! Of course she manages to lift all the rocks, freeing the last remaining members of the Resistance and they escape in the Falcon. There must be just about 10 people left! But Leia says they have all they need to start again. They’re the spark that will light the fire to burn the First Order down, etc. We see also that Rey has managed to keep the sacred jedi texts - they’re in a drawer on the falcon. So I suppose this means she can learn the ways of the Jedi properly and maybe she’ll get some help from Luke’s force ghost. Kylo and Rey have one more force vision before the Falcon leaves. They stare at each other and Rey closes the door - signifying that she’s closing herself off from him, I suppose. But surely the interesting thing going forward will be their relationship. Will she be able to turn him back to the light, or defeat him somehow? Will Kylo turn her to the dark somehow? What’s going to happen to Kylo? I quite like the idea that he’ll be haunted by Luke - a bit like the way Macbeth is haunted by his friend Banquo in the Shakespeare play Macbeth. In the final scene of the film we see some of the slave kids on Canto Bight - one of them is telling the others the legend of Luke Skywalker - him standing up against the entire First Order. It reminds me of how C3P0 tells the Ewoks the story of the rebellion. The other children are enthralled by the story and seem genuinely inspired. This shows that the legend of Luke Skywalker gives hope to the next generation. Then the kids are told off by their cruel slave owner boss type guy and one of the kids goes out to sweep the yard. He grabs the broom using a force pull - showing that he is force sensitive, and then he looks up at the stars and sees a distant spacecraft fly across the sky. The End! I suppose this scene means that: Anyone can be strong in the force - you don’t have to be part of a specific bloodline Luke’s legend is an inspiration to the poor, lost or forgotten people The Resistance is not dead and there’s still hope left in the galaxy That’s a nice message isn’t it? So in summary, I found The Last Jedi to be bold in the way it refuses to pander to the fan theories and expectations, brave in the way it pushes the saga forwards by doing some new things and letting some old things die, nuanced in the way it allowed the characters to develop in complex and quite flawed ways, fun in how it included some pretty weird comic moments and just awesome in the way it dealt with several key moments of action that were fuelled more by emotion than by technical skill. I think it’s an intelligent film, a surprising film, it’s one of my favourite Star Wars episodes and I’m looking forward to seeing it again so I can pick up on some more of the subtle details that made it enjoyable. I have no idea how episode 9 is going to carry on - and I like that feeling. Apparently JJ Abrams is going to conclude the saga by directing episode 9. JJ is obviously a very competent filmmaker and someone who understands the core appeal of Star Wars but I’m also a little bit worried because JJ has an approach to making films that involves posing lots of mysterious open ended questions rather than by providing satisfying resolutions. Think of Lost, the TV show - it was brilliant at setting up lots of questions and mysteries that kept the audience guessing, but none of those questions and mysteries were adequately explained in the end. I just hope that episode 9 can at least bring some resolution to the story, rather than just leaving it all open to the interpretations of the slightly unhinged fanbase. I look forward to reading your opinions if you have them.

An intriguing and revealing episode kicks off with some rotten luck for Tonys Toyota Hilux. Get well soon Earl. Then Luke tells us about the delicious sounding, yet slightly terrifying Pandafeche AKA sleep paralysis. Then while dodging cats Tony recites us a strange tale from our beloved 1980s book.

An intriguing and revealing episode kicks off with some rotten luck for Tonys Toyota Hilux. Get well soon Earl. Then Luke tells us about the delicious sounding, yet slightly terrifying Pandafeche AKA sleep paralysis. Then while dodging cats Tony recites us a strange tale from our beloved 1980s book.

THIS EPISODE: I'm talking about being bullied by a handicapped person. Luke and Mandy (Peaches) join me.   First, we're video taping the beginning of this podcast! It's fascinating but I can't do it for the whole episode because I am incapable of operating two devices at the same time.   I tell the tale of a guy with Parkinson's scamming me. I gotta tell you, Pkarlgh, it bothers me to be lied to even when the liar is handicapped.   The video ends and I ask the question, "Is it okay to lie to people as long as you're handicapped?" The Peaches doesn't comment right away so I yell at her.   At times, it seems better to me to get ripped off than to deny someone who asks for help. Then I tell a story about a colostomy bag.   Luke may have accidentally invented a fantastic technique for dealing with people who are asking for food. Emmi kind of throws a tantrum then goes suddenly silent. Don't panic, Pkarlgh. Luke just put her to bed.   We ponder whether or not it's good to setup a GoFundMe account just because you want stuff (like pizza). Maybe some people don't have family to help them because they've alienated their family.  BUT MAYBE NOT...We don't judge!*   I had a guy ask me for money minutes after being mugged! (No kidding.)   It seems important to note that Jesus didn't hand out cash to people. (Could be my hatred for the poor bubbling to the surface but I don't think so...)   Peaches snaps at me when I try to interrupt her so I retreat (temporarily) to escape her wrath. She tries to make the point that Jesus didn't help people based on the color of their skin or their gender. (Then she points out that Jesus WAS a person of color!  I'm telling you, Pkarlgh, she's out of control!)   (Notice that Luke hasn't said much so far. He's still in the room. Hunkered in the corner just waiting to throw out an incredibly profound comment...)   Peaches admits she's difficult to get along with and tries to blame it on a disability.   We decide it's not possible to affirm or deny support for EVERY GROUP IN EXISTENCE! (Luke says some stuff but it's not the profound statement yet...keep listening.)   I answer the question, "Do you like Donald Trump?"   We confirm that riots do not effectively express an argument.    Then, we sidetrack talking about urine filled balloon. And I offer a million dollar idea for you, Pkarlgh. It's right  there, all you need to do is run with it!  See you on Shark Tank!   Peaches brings us back to the topic she wanted to discuss. When you're trying to decide whether to be pro-hatred or anti-hatred, you need to know which group stands for anti-hate and it's hard to know when they're both throwing pee filled balloons at each other.   We make a decision about people who draw conclusions based solely on the source of an idea. (People who do this are idiots.)   Then we talk about the American Disability Act and probably offend everyone who uses a wheelchair. We mention oil spills too. THINK OF THE TURTLES!   (I didn't realize the microphone was so close to the coffee machine!!  It kinda sounds like somebody is taking a leak but it's coffee. I promise.)   I confess that I used to have anxiety using products from evil corporations.    It would be a great idea to let racist, hateful people talk. Let them talk and talk. Then, nobody will pay attention to them.   Then Luke unleashes a fantastic quote that would have ended the podcast if he had said it earlier.   And then it's back t

Welcome to the Geeks Talk podcast. This month the Geeks Talk about the newest DCEU movie, Wonder Woman. We have the newest installment of 'Daves Nearly News' now with it's very own theme song. Then Luke hosts 'I wonder' which is this months themed Geeks Talk quiz and we finish with some of your questions. If you want to ask us a question for a future podcast then follow us on Twitter for more Geeky Goodness - @JackGeekstalk.

Tony has another housing-centric hypothetical that somehow deviates into his massive distaste for unwanted pillow presence. Then Luke educates us on all of the ghostly goings-on aboard a  haunting glamour of the high-seas. During ‘Get Me Some Strange’ we hear way too much about pips….  As always tweet and instagram us to let us know you listen, we can mention your stories, or try out your hypotheticals. @lits_podcast

Tony has another housing-centric hypothetical that somehow deviates into his massive distaste for unwanted pillow presence. Then Luke educates us on all of the ghostly goings-on aboard a haunting glamour of the high-seas. During ‘Get Me Some Strange’ we hear way too much about pips…. As always tweet and instagram us to let us know you listen, we can mention your stories, or try out your hypotheticals. @lits_podcast

In this episode Tony tackles another hypothetical question about a four legged friend. Then Luke recounts tales of escalating paranormal activity of the Bell witch hauntings, followed by the most Risque 'Get me some strange' yet!

In this episode Tony tackles another hypothetical question about a four legged friend. Then Luke recounts tales of escalating paranormal activity of the Bell witch hauntings, followed by the most Risque 'Get me some strange' yet!

This is our first time back in three weeks, having recorded the last two episodes originally as one long episode. Then Luke’s internet completely died in their classy, old apartment building, so we recorded late on Saturday night. But you’ve patiently waited on us, so we will gift you with a special 2 hour episode! We start off with a return of 10 minute topics as our Hero Luke launches a GoFundMe Campaign for That Catholic Couple which met its goal in just 32 hours. Immediately following that we begin to argue with one another about Community Groups for 45 minutes, breaking the 10 minute limit. After that, we regrouped, I drank more wine, and we discuss Dr. Strange and crappy Marvel villains, Pop Culture, Who Gomer voted for in the Early Elections, Jimmy Eat World, and the podcast State of the Union.SPONSORWe want to thank our unsponsor who unadvertised with our unpodcast, Cherubalm, makers of baby lotion bars that are great on skin and safe for cloth diapers, for giving us money not to talk about their family product. 

Brother Peter Francis is the nicest bear-man you will meet this side of the Misty Mountains and so we just let him talk for an hour and a half. This is the very essence of Brother Peter Francis- no thought of himself, just the hilarious joy every teenager at camp would get out of his full-habit belly flop! We dive into his background as the "Guy on the Couch" in my first apartment after college. Then Luke reminds me that also was the "Guy on the Couch" in my apartment for a while. This forces me to take stock of my life, especially the quality of my friends and their poor life choices. The Servants of Christ Jesus! I should totally get some sort of "founding" credit. Half the Order is related to me or my parish in one way or another! We reminisce about his Middle School youth ministry days and the ancient art of Lectio Divina. We also talk about how he was my Jedi Master in the Holy Spirit, teaching me to pray "in the Spirit" at 2:00 AM in my dirty kitchen. My favorite part was how he discovered his call to leave everything behind and enter the Servants of Christ Jesus religious order. Luke's would probably be Br Peter's experience of homelessness in Barcelona as his poverty pilgrimage seemingly tanked. Day Five, praying the rosary with thousands of pilgrims, he finds his close friends standing right in front of him. What a story! You better be wearing cheap socks, because their about to be blown off your feet!Thanks to BenSounds.com for the music theme.

THE MOST EXPLICIT LISTENER MAIL!We dive into our Facebook account messages and posts for your questions that you wanted us to answer. Seeing as how we are super smart and such, we cover them all in our 10 minutes or less format of choice. You asked. We answered. Your welcome!But first we yell at our listeners for saying that we talk too long. YEAH, DUNCAN, I'M TALKING TO YOU. THIS EPISODE IS OVER AN HOUR LONG. DEAL! Matt Walsh: Friend? Asshole? Friendly Asshole? Is he me?What is the "the world"? Am I supposed to love it? Hate it? Tickle its armpits?How bad is cussing? (Especially considering the Matt Walsh comment above)Should Nancy Pelosi be Excommunicated for her public stance advocating for abortion?Should Democrats be more heard out by Catholics today?Then Luke plunges into his experience at the Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, which is cool, but has nothing to do the topic...Kim Davis, a very nice lady from Kentucky who I'm sure she means well...Then Luke throws out his authentic, original, artisanal question: "Why do we think that screaming at the top of our lungs about how right we are is more convincing than Christian joy amongst intense pain and suffering...?" (Gomer responds with an AMAZING quote on Christian boldness)Oh crap, then humility vs pride is asked, and we loose our minds arguing over whether it is OK to have self-confidence and the role of ordered/disordered self-loveAlso, "Avant Garde Post-Modern Jazz" DRINK! Gomer is listening to Days of the New and Luke is listening to Colin Stetson's To See More Light.Thanks to BenSounds.com for the theme song!

This is my conversation with Knoxville filmmaking extraordinaire, Luke Dye. We travel back in time to the early days of the filmmaking supergroup, REPLY ALL. Then Luke raps bars of fire as we spiritually navigate the unknowns of the future.Check out some of Luke's short films at https://vimeo.com/igbaproductions

Prepare for boobs. Yeah, you read that right. Greg Lamberson, the hardest working man in horror, stops by to pimp his new Kickstarter campaign for the upcoming horror comedy Killer Rack. He also has a ton of news about his fiction work, other directorial duties, and possible adaptations of them! But really, boobs! Then Luke and Desmond take a look at one of the more obscure Full Moon Horror films: Lurking Fear. Send feedback in this week to be entered to win an ebook of How the West Was Weird, volume 3 which features a story from yours truly, as well as several others. Check out Greg's Kickstarter here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/gregorylamberson/killer-rack. But don't forget a Kickstarter for another upcoming anthology with one of Desmond's stories in it, the Lovecraft / fairy tale mash-up A Mythos Grimmly: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jerhoc/a-mythos-grimmly-a-lovecraftian-fairy-tale-mash-up. There's music on top of all this self-promotion, too! "Elizabeth" by Ghost, "Dangertits" by Brendon Small, "Birthright" by Samhain, and "Hang Em High" by Ghoultown. Send feedback to: feedback@dreadmedia.net, or 206.203.1213. Follow @DevilDinosaurJr and @dreadmedia on Twitter! Join the Facebook group! Visit www.stayscary.wordpress.com.

Prepare for boobs. Yeah, you read that right. Greg Lamberson, the hardest working man in horror, stops by to pimp his new Kickstarter campaign for the upcoming horror comedy Killer Rack. He also has a ton of news about his fiction work, other directorial duties, and possible adaptations of them! But really, boobs! Then Luke and Desmond take a look at one of the more obscure Full Moon Horror films: Lurking Fear. Send feedback in this week to be entered to win an ebook of How the West Was Weird, volume 3 which features a story from yours truly, as well as several others. Check out Greg's Kickstarter here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/gregorylamberson/killer-rack. But don't forget a Kickstarter for another upcoming anthology with one of Desmond's stories in it, the Lovecraft / fairy tale mash-up A Mythos Grimmly: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jerhoc/a-mythos-grimmly-a-lovecraftian-fairy-tale-mash-up. There's music on top of all this self-promotion, too! "Elizabeth" by Ghost, "Dangertits" by Brendon Small, "Birthright" by Samhain, and "Hang Em High" by Ghoultown. Send feedback to: feedback@dreadmedia.net, or 206.203.1213. Follow @DevilDinosaurJr and @dreadmedia on Twitter! Join the Facebook group! Visit www.stayscary.wordpress.com.

Prepare for boobs. Yeah, you read that right. Greg Lamberson, the hardest working man in horror, stops by to pimp his new Kickstarter campaign for the upcoming horror comedy Killer Rack. He also has a ton of news about his fiction work, other directorial duties, and possible adaptations of them! But really, boobs! Then Luke and Desmond take a look at one of the more obscure Full Moon Horror films: Lurking Fear. Send feedback in this week to be entered to win an ebook of How the West Was Weird, volume 3 which features a story from yours truly, as well as several others. Check out Greg's Kickstarter here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/gregorylamberson/killer-rack. But don't forget a Kickstarter for another upcoming anthology with one of Desmond's stories in it, the Lovecraft / fairy tale mash-up A Mythos Grimmly: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jerhoc/a-mythos-grimmly-a-lovecraftian-fairy-tale-mash-up. There's music on top of all this self-promotion, too! "Elizabeth" by Ghost, "Dangertits" by Brendon Small, "Birthright" by Samhain, and "Hang Em High" by Ghoultown. Send feedback to: feedback@dreadmedia.net, or 206.203.1213. Follow @DevilDinosaurJr and @dreadmedia on Twitter! Join the Facebook group! Visit www.stayscary.wordpress.com.

Prepare for boobs. Yeah, you read that right. Greg Lamberson, the hardest working man in horror, stops by to pimp his new Kickstarter campaign for the upcoming horror comedy Killer Rack. He also has a ton of news about his fiction work, other directorial duties, and possible adaptations of them! But really, boobs! Then Luke and Desmond take a look at one of the more obscure Full Moon Horror films: Lurking Fear. Send feedback in this week to be entered to win an ebook of How the West Was Weird, volume 3 which features a story from yours truly, as well as several others. Check out Greg's Kickstarter here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/gregorylamberson/killer-rack. But don't forget a Kickstarter for another upcoming anthology with one of Desmond's stories in it, the Lovecraft / fairy tale mash-up A Mythos Grimmly: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jerhoc/a-mythos-grimmly-a-lovecraftian-fairy-tale-mash-up. There's music on top of all this self-promotion, too! "Elizabeth" by Ghost, "Dangertits" by Brendon Small, "Birthright" by Samhain, and "Hang Em High" by Ghoultown. Send feedback to: feedback@dreadmedia.net, or 206.203.1213. Follow @DevilDinosaurJr and @dreadmedia on Twitter! Join the Facebook group! Visit www.stayscary.wordpress.com.