I'm Luke Skywalker

Luke Skywalker himself will appear at Celebration V in Florida. Lucasfilm has confirmed that Mark Hamill will be on hand to sign autographs. The gathering. will be Hamill's first appearance at US-based conventions.

Tickets are still available, so go to the website to get yours.

Insert Zac Efron reference here

Zac Efron has signed on to play Anakin Skywalker in Robot Chicken's third Star Wars spoof. The “Robot Chicken” series has previously spoofed the Star Wars movies in 2007 and 2008 and the next Star Wars spoof special will air on December 12th on Adult Swim.

The past Robot Chicken spoofs have included a Yoda/Obi-Wan song-and-dance routine, a skit depicting Palpatine's worst day ever, and a segment of every geek's fantasy.

Only you would be so bold ...

These guys here are pretty much my heroes.

The comedy group Improv Everywhere faithfully recreated a scene from Star Wars: A New Hope in a New York CIty subway.

Of the skit, they said: "The white walls and sliding doors on the train reminded us of the rebel ship from the movie, and we thought it would be fun to see how people would react to a surprise appearance by the iconic characters."

Watch the scene on YouTube here.

She's got it where it counts.

I know I run the risk of venturing into the realm of the insensitive here, but this is almost worth catching a life-threatening disease.

The Make-A-Wish Foundation gave this gigantic Millennium Falcon fort thing. It took 14 people, including a group of well-built firefighters, to lift it. It even has solar-powered interior lighting.

I know way too much.

I stumbled across this wonderful chart the other day. It’s called “19 Things You Didn’t Know About Star Wars.”

I pride myself in knowing stuff nobody else knows about Star Wars. Let’s see how many of these I know …

The movie title? Yes, I did know that one.
The number of actors who portrayed Darth Vader: Yes.
Toy line: No.
ILM: Yes.
Frank Oz: Yes.
Mark Hamill: No.
Scuba regulator: No.
Puppeteers: Yes.
Hypertension: No.
Francis Ford Coppola: No.
George’s birthday: No.
Greatest film score: Naturally.
Sissy Spacek: Who?
Other Han Solos: Yes.
Chewbacca: Yes.
Ewok: I’ve actually heard that it was “Wookiee” backwards.
Hamburger: Yes.
R2-D2: Yes.
Airplanes and pantyhose: No.

I’d say I did pretty well.

This weapon is your life, part 2.

Remember the lightsaber-like laser pointer from a few weeks ago? It seems George Lucas has filed a “cease and desist” order against Wicked Lasers, who released what thy called “the most powerful hand-held laser ever available to the public.”

Wicked Lasers never called their product a lightsaber, but I was far from the only one who thought it looked like one. I guess George is very protective of his beloved laser swords.

Rise, my friend ...

Remember that awesome desk I shared last time? I looked around on the website of the artist and found the perfect chair for it.

This chair, modeled after the Emperor' throne aboard the second Death Star, costs a hefty $5500. At that price, it had better give me Force powers.

Put Captain Solo in the cargo hold.

My dream house will include an office wherein I will display all my Star Wars memorabilia. In this office, my computer and Wookiee mug will sit upon a desk. This desk, of course, will be a thing of beauty.



This desk was created by Tom Spina studios, which makes custom art and furniture for people with unusual tastes and large wallets.

Check out more of their stuff here.

A few months ago, we celebrated May the Fourth, as in May the Fourth Be With You. In a few days, we celebrate another important Fourth holiday — Independence Day. Photojournalist Stephen Hayford created these funny snapshots to celebrate America’s liberation from the Galactic Empire … er, whatever.

Aye, may the force be w' ye

One of my dreams as a child was to play the bagpipes. Like many other of my dreams — like getting into a bar fight and hijacking a Schwan’s truck — this dream has all but fallen to the wayside, but this videos have kindled anew my desire to play Scotland’s favorite instrument.

These guys are playing the Star Wars theme on the bagpipes, which makes the music exponentially cool.

This weapon is your life.

I'm just now getting around to posting this entry, showing an attraction that has garnered attention on several Web sites I've seen. One person posted it on my Facebook wall after I'd already seen it on the New York Daily News.

It's a high-powered laser that can burn flesh. Also, its makers — who are either living in some sort of isolated cave and had no idea that they were replicating a pop-culture icon or Star Wars fans with a sense of humor — gave it a very familiar appearance.



Check out the lightsaber ... er, laser pointer here.

Compare it with a few real lightsaber props.



If you're interested in one geek's page-long explanation of why a lightsaber is a physical impossibility, click here.

Slice it up, fuzzball!

There are at least ten quasi-clever Star Wars references I could make about the bear in this video. I could go with the ubiquitous "The Force is strong with this bear"; I could say something like "Who's scruffy-looking?" I could go with "Fish, nuts, berries — a Jedi craves not these things." Or maybe: "Judge me by my fur, do you?" How about "What an incredible new stick you've discovered!"



Or maybe I could just tell what's going on in the video. Like many internet memes (the "Star Wars kid" comes to mind), what started as somebody with a stick has become somebody with a lightsaber. Still, this was is particularly cool, and not only because the bear can now chop your head off.

The bear, Claude, lives at the Asa Zoo in Hiroshima, Japan. Some people doubted the authenticity of the original video (the one without the lightsaber edited in), but a zookeeper apparently verified that it was real, that Claude really was twirling a stick in his claws. The zookeeper says that the staff encourages the bear by giving him 15-meter sticks to play with.

Watch the video here.

Fifteen minutes of awesomeness, part 2

The next trailer is for The Force Unleashed II. When last we saw Darth Vader's secret apprentice, he had just sacrificed himself to badly wound Darth Vader and the Emperor. Here we see that he's back again — somehow. We don't really care to worry about how in the worlds he survived that encounter, only that he's exhibiting some pretty sweet moves. Check it out:

Fifteen minutes of awesomeness

A little bit of balm exists now for those who harbor frustrations with the prequel trilogy. Do you wish you could watch some good, old-fashioned action unhindered by banal dialogue? It only lasts a combined fifteen minutes, but here are three trailers for upcoming Star Wars video games, three trailers that rank in the "awesome" range.

First, we've got two trailers for the upcoming MMORPG The Old Republic. I'm not much for MMORPG games (think World of WarCraft), but these trailers are pretty excellent.



I don't own the rights to any of these videos, which are probably owned by Lucasfilm Ltd. and their respective video game labels.

Because I could only post two videos at a time, check out the next post.

Wretched hive of scum and villainy

Sportswear company adidas has launched a new campaign using Star Wars to promote the FIFA World Cup. Now, I live in the USA, where the soccer world cup is watched by approximately three people nationwide, but the addition of Star Wars elements promises to make me at least gaze curiously in the general direction of any TV where the World Cup might be playing.

The commercial integrates David Beckham, Snoop Dogg, and other stars seamlessly into the Mos Eisley Cantine scene. Check out the video and the wizardry behind the amazing integration of two galaxies here.

Lost in a galaxy far, far away ...

If you're like me, a little part of you died a few weeks ago when Lost ended. The many parts of Lost's legacy have been lauded by commentators and fans alike, but there's one aspect of the show that doesn't get the recognition it deserves. That aspect? A consistent effort by the producers to throw in as many Star Wars references as possible.

Hugo "Hurley" Reyes, the show's main source of comic relief, provides the bulk of Star Wars references. However, the homages to Star Wars don't end there. From a strategically placed Millennium Falcon toy to thematic similarities, the references abound.

Consider, for instance, the scene where Sawyer strangles Anthony Cooper:



Look at the lighting and the expressions on faces.

The exhaustive list of Star Wars references can be found here.

Icing on the cake

A good girl is one in a million. A good girl who will let you put an AT-AT on your wedding cake has got to be one in at least a billion.

Check out this cake. Bride Rebecca Dudeiros had a friend who made this for her — including little Admiral Ackbar and Mon Mothma figures and Ewok Cupcakes. How romantic is this? I hope her groom is a Star Wars fan as well.... If not, her most attractive qualities are wasted.

This is the droid you're looking for ...

We know that Star Trek director J. J. Abrams is a Star Wars fan. Abrams, who's also the man responsible for Lost, include dozens of Star Wars references in that show. His new incarnation of Star Trek recalls Star Wars in more ways that one. I’m not talking about the ice planet, the superweapon powerful enough to destroy a planet, the very Han Solo-ish Jim Kirk.

Check out the piece of debris flying to port.

For those of you who stumbled upon this blog without knowing that a basic knowledge of Star Wars is required in order to appreciate nearly all the blog entries, that droid is R2-D2.

R2-D2 is Star Wars. Not Star Trek. Star Wars. Got it? Let's move on, then.

Now what would our favorite astromech droid be doing in orbit over Vulcan? I'm by no means the first person to pick up on this, but I sure do enjoy reading what others have to say about it.

Look at this post from a bunch of Star Trek nerds, who call it "blasphemy." Take that, Roddenberry.

For a list of Star Wars references in Lost, check out my blog post here.

Afghanistan and the Death Star

If the Rebels had relied on the same strategy our government is applying in Afghanistan, Yavin IV might just be a smoking asteroid field. At least that’s the message comedian Jon Stewart tries to convey in a new clip.

Stewart displayed an exaggerated version of the US government’s plan to bring stability to Afghanistan, mocking the chart as he tried to make sense of phrases like “western affiliation backlash” and “perceived security.”

He then showed how other famous warriors throughout “history” had employed charts to explain battles to their troops.

He brought up, as we all remember, the time when General Dodonna explained to rebel fighter pilots how to blow up the Death Star using a PowerPoint presentation.

Other mentions from the annals of history were when General Patton used a Venn diagram and when William Wallace calmly explained the cost of freedom using a simple chart.