If it was the last year before the Mayan Apocalypse, 2011 wasn't half bad

2011 certainly was an interesting year, there were some ups and downs on the personal front, but all in all it was a great year.

On the Star Wars front there are some things I liked, and somethings I didn't like as much.  Let's start with the positive.

The absolute highlight of the year was winning a contest on Suvudu.com that got myself and two other lucky winners the chance to sit down for lunch with author Timothy Zahn and Del Rey Editor Shelly Shapiro.  The lunch was at this years San Diego Comic-Con.  It was pretty awesome and the post lunch discussion was crashed by Keeper of the Holocron Leland Chee.  So in other words it was a Star Wars Expanded Universe fan's dream come true.

This year also saw some really cool and dark turns to my favorite animated series, as Star Wars: The Clone Wars has taken a more mature and dark tone in the second half of Season Three and coming into Season Four.

Through this little blog I was also able to get on Del Rey's review copy mailing list.  This is a really cool thing, though it makes it tough sometime reading books in advance and having to stay tight lipped about them when the Star Wars fan in me wants to dissect them with fellow fans.  Yoda would be whacking me in the head with his glimmer stick and preaching to me about patience.

I have also been fortunate enough to get to know other voices in the fan community better this year, appearing on podcasts, in chats, on Skype and through social media.  It was a pleasure to interact with you all and build bridges of friendship.

On the release front, we got some really awesome things this past year.  The Complete Saga on Blu-ray is on top of the list for me.  Say what you will about Lucas' special modifications, but having Star Wars in the HD format is a great thing.  In publishing there was some interesting novels released in 2011. In particular I enjoyed Paul S. Kemp's Deceived and Riptide, John Jackson Miller's Knight Errant, and the 20th Anniversary Edition of Heir to the Empire.  It was also nice to see Fate of the Jedi pick up the pace a bit, even if the gaps are frustrating large between novels in the series.

I almost forgot, how about thus cinematic trailers for Star Wars: The Old Republic.  I am still drooling.  I want more of these, jeez I would take a feature length movie in that gorgeous animation style.

There were some negatives this year.  The biggest for me is that I have not yet gotten a chance to get to Disneyland to check out the new Star Tours II ride.  The other major disappointment is the Star Wars: Blueprints books.  This was one of the coolest books to be released this year, however, the price made it prohibitive for myself and many other fans from getting the book.  Perhaps at some point a trade edition will be released.

Well it is time to say goodbye to 2011 and look forward to 2012.  Later this week look for my thoughts on a few things I am looking forward to in the Galaxy Far, Far Away in this coming year.