(The Great 100-ish Day, 100-question Star Wars Blogathon, #64)

It's quiet out there.

A little too quiet.

I was going to talk a little bit about the origin of the phrase "a little too quiet," a well-known trope, but in investigating where that phrase came from, I ran across a link to "The Hounds of the Morrigan," which had a reference to the Celtic Goddess of War in it; apparently, in that book, whenever the Celtic Goddess of War focused on something, her ears absorbed all the sound around her, so her enemies would know she was focusing on them because things would get...a little too quiet.

Then I wondered if that was an invention of the author or the "real" (?) stuff of myth, so I went to look up the Celtic Goddess of War, and I found this site which lists not one, not two, but 10 gods/goddesses of war, including Banba, whose particular godhood was dedicated to repelling invaders, as well as being the deification of soil.

Celtic mythology also has innumerable gods and goddesses dedicated to sex, fertility, and love, which is the way to go with a religion, if you ask me, and which include Achtland, who as a mortal found no man could satisfy her, so she married one of the Tuatha de Danann, a sort of cross between Irish gods and Tolkien's elves.  After that, it was said, she found "great delight" ... in brushing her husband's long silken hair.

Hmmm.

Anyway, that all got me thinking about the lasting impact of what we do and say and write, something that's on my mind a lot.  That book, The Hounds of The Morrigan, sounds inventive -- but was released something like 20 years ago, if not more.  I frequently wander through bookstores and libraries and look at all the books I've never even heard of and wonder if those authors wonder the impact of what they're doing, if those authors put their books out there hoping they'd be Twilight or Harry Potter or Great Expecatations, only to find out that they're...

...not.

That's the kind of thoughts I get when I give a WHAMMY! question and nobody answers.  There were 990 pageviews yesterday, and two comments.  I don't imagine that what I'm doing here is Great Expectations, or even Twilight, but I do wonder, sometimes, when we throw these ideas out into the air, do they land?  And do they take root when they do?  Think of all the things humans create and briefly talk about and then never visit again, and consider how many of them you will remember for a week.  A month?  A year?

Ten years?

Fifty years?

Does the likelihood of being remembered-- that's the best way to measure an impact, isn't it? -- increase as we increase our output? Or does a greater volume mean a weaker impact?

The amount of things we're throwing into the universe as ideas grows exponentially.  In 1977, when Star Wars was released, there were 47 other theatrical releases.  There were 48 movies released in 2011... by April, 2011.

I saw recently an article in Entertainment Weekly that noted that Titanic had the most consecutive weeks at number 1 at the box office, followed by Beverly Hills Cop.

Beverly Hills Cop.  Really?

Sweetie's explanation for that, which I buy into, is that there were fewer movies then on fewer screens, so it was easier to stay at number 1.  (Four of the top 5 in that category were released between 1980 and 1990).

I still remember Beverly Hills Cop.  And Star Wars.  But was the impact of those movies heightened because there was so little competition?

Anyway, that's my musing today, brought on by the eerie quiet amongst the competitors on the Blogathon:  Consider whether abundance equates with lack of concern.

And then answer question #64, worth 24 points:

What was Grand Moff Tarkin's homeworld?

UPDATES/RULINGS: Because nobody answered the WHAMMY! question, I have not penalized Andrew for wagering but not answering, especially since it was unclear whether he would be the only person entering.

I'M EXTENDING THE DEADLINE BY ONE WEEK!  Write your blogfest entry! The Tri(?)weekly Blogfest Challenge -- prize is $10 -- is to post something on the theme of "Han shot first, but Time-Traveling Elvis shot second" by April 29.  Leave a link to your post in the comments to this post. You'll get 100 points for posting it, plus 5 for mentioning the blogathon.  Get it in by next Sunday, whatever day that is.

You can get 1,000 points by mentioning the Yellow Hill fundraiser on your blog; here's the post where I explain that, and you can  click here to go directly to the Yellow Hill fundraising page.  If you don't want the points, you can in the alternative link to/mention it and get a free book of mine.(Find my books here.) (If you've done this, leave me a link and I'll get you the points.)  This one ends in a week.

And I'm going to put another bounty out: 500 points if you get Julian Darius, or anyone from Martian Lit, to leave a comment here. 

Here are the Star Wars Blogathon standings; check your point total here. 

Will it help drive up participation if I post more Leias in bikinis?   Because I'll do that: