The Ko Report - Edition #12 - Ode to Summer!

[Dakota Gue]

So! Summer! - shorts, sun dresses, flip flops, frappaccino's, or...margaritas, the sun and sand, dudes with six-packs playing beach volleyball...all the things we love crammed into a few too-short months that light us up with optimism, a sense of youth and well-being and even a weird sort of goofiness! People are throwing frisbees with their dogs, strolling their kids around water parks - swathing them in sun screen and making them wear little, little hats, which the tots hate. There are girls in spagetti-strap tanks and their hair pulled up in cute ponytails, there's the windows rolled down in the car and the hot wind blowing your hair sideways, music blaring so the car thuds and old people shake their heads as you drive by saying you'll be deaf in 5 five years!

Summer... the time of block buster movies, baseball games, surfing championships, spontaneous romances, paperback novels, sun tans...sun burns, patio dining, barbeque parties, coolers, (or for the Aussies among us, eskies), bon-fires by the lake, marshmallow roasts, smores! Not to forget Vacations, or in the present economic environment, Staycations! Whatever. It's time off work and school! Summer is a time to celebrate life just because we can and we dont have to be weighed down by thick scarfs and woollen sweaters and rain boots and sensible coats and long underwear (I know you wear them) and dreary, gray weather.

So, I dedicate this Ko Report to Summer and what that means for us here at SWF.


For beginners, there's the Summer Box Office Contest in the OOC Box Office forums, an ongoing competition where posters speculate the success (or failure) of the Summer released movies in Dollar value. The person who gets the most points by guessing the closest actual grossings gets to be, um, King of the Boards? Well, Im not really sure what they win, but the prize is in the participating, no? (Actually - The Winner gets a Supporter Account, yay!)* Our thanks to Jedi Master Carr who faithfully updates this competition thread.
There are also ongoing discussion threads on Movies, Books, new TV shows/series for the Fall Season where posters offer their opinions and personal reviews. This happens all year round actually, but for some reason, it is so much more exciting in Summertime.

There's the Thank God were free from School threads, found in the OOC General Discusion forums, together with the Should I go Back to School? threads where pros and cons of achieving an Education are put out there for reflection, criticism and/or encouragement.

There is the Countdown to DragonCon threads, where some of our posters are converging on Atlanta GA to visit DragonCon and celebrate our own 10 year Boardiversary together. Good times.

There's also the Summer-time surplus posting phenomenon which sometimes happens now that many of us have that elusive commodity called "FREE TIME." This computes out in the return of old posters coming back to us, or just stopping in to say Hello. Always appreciated .

There is also the Gaming threads where reviews and virtues of Games are discussed with even more fervor than before in the General Gaming Forums because, again, of all the FREE TIME.

We have the Blockbuster threads in the Roleplaying Forums, some of which are ongoing Sagas, others a one-time-have-we-got-a-deal-for-you opportunities, that take place in the Star Wars, WoD, Myth, X-Men and the new Apocolyptic Genres, which all supply a great read and are so often an inspiration to write similar exploits ourselves.

We have one or two In Character budding romances, as well as some ingenuis plottings and counter-plottings.

And then there are the ever-popular cooking and recipe-sharing threads, which, I have to say - some people should live closer to where I am and invite me over to your place for dinner! *coughcharleycough*

There are Artwork threads, Collector threads and, of course, Star Wars Amalgam threads.

Indeed, Summer at SWF is wonderful! And I extend a cool high-five! to you for taking the time to towel off from the pool and come by and visit us -- we hope you'll stay a while, maybe have a cool and frosty one, make some new friends and even perhaps join in and become a SWF poster yourself.

Have an Awesome Summer, all ye Fans of the Star Wars!



*Fashionably yours, Dakota Gue - SWF Correspondent