Here's some footage from the upcoming Star Wars toys documentary, Plastic Galaxy. It includes interviews with Steven Sansweet, John Booth, several former Kenner employees, and more. This documentary has been repeatedly delayed but is now set to come out in September 2013. I look forward to it.
It's the new Star Wars air fresheners, of course. US$5.99 at Superherostuff, less at Amazon.
Last night I took the plunge and amended the subtitle of this web site to "Star Wars & More for men old enough to know better". I've been musing about this for some time now. The last thing I want to do is to abandon or alienate my existing, Star-Wars-fan audience. But in my experience, if you're of a certain age and a fan of Star Wars, there's a good chance you and I have other interests in common, too. I'll still be blogging about Star Wars, but I am now giving myself permission to branch out from time to time.
Just in time for this subtle shift in my blog's focus, Dave Banks (the man who kindly reviewed A Long Time Ago for the GeekDad blog) has posted a hilarious, cringe-inducing piece of middle-aged-man trauma on Medium. From Dave's piece:
My wife and I had been trying to have kids for a while, but with no success. Due to her family history, the doctors were pretty sure the problem was in my wife’s girl parts, but they wanted to rule me out, which involved visiting the lab to give a sperm sample. I wouldn’t say I was dreading the visit to the lab, but I certainly wasn’t looking forward to it.
...
I went inside and looked at the building directory for Idiot Laboratories (quite obviously, some names have been changed). There were 4 listings for Idiot Labs – on the 1st, 2nd, 4th and 8th floors. I figured I’d start on the 1st floor. I found the Idiot suite, but no one was there. Back to the stairs and up a flight to the second floor. I walked in and showed my paperwork to the receptionist.
Perhaps I’m better at reading forms than someone who sees them everyday, but it seemed pretty obvious to me what the paperwork was asking for, at the top of the word-heavy sheet, it stated:
Patient: David Banks
Test: Sperm Sample, Count/MotilityIt’s not that tough is it? Well for this young lady it was. She studied the form very intensely, but was unable to decipher what I was there for. She called to her colleague a couple desks over.
“I can’t figure out what he’s here for.”
“Just a second,” said the colleague.
Twenty seconds pass. I explain to the receptionist that San Diego Fertility Center has sent me here to provide a sperm sample. She doesn’t hear me or doesn’t believe me.
Her colleague finally makes her way over, takes one look at the form and says “Here it is – he’s here to give a sperm sample.”
(It’s OK. Just pretend like I’m not here.)
Follow the link to read the entire piece in all its indelicate glory. Spoiler: it's about a SPERM SAMPLE.
‘An Evening with the Ewoks’ by Chiktabba (via SWAFDWTDB)It occurred to me today that I hadn't visited the world's greatest web site in ages. So I surfed over and found all sorts of new SWAFDWTDB material. For one thing, Rather Childish has begun adding buying notes to some of his photos (eg this photo of Leia in Combat Poncho). Even if you're not a collector, the notes are interesting.
Rather Childish has also held his second annual action figure photo contest. The winning entry is above, but there are some great runners-up, too. Follow the link below to see them all. I only wish I had caught this earlier. I would have encouraged you all to vote.
Star Wars Action Figures Doing What They Do Best: The 2nd Annual Photo Contest
Want more SWAFDWTDB? Previous posts in which I praise SWAFDWTDB beyond all reason
I really must quit regarding such things as desecration--but I can't.
The hashtag #MyFirstStarWarsMemory has been trending on Twitter today, with some entertaining results. Here's a few of the tweets I liked.
#myFirstStarWarsMemoryWatching THAT Star Destroyer overtake Leia's Blockade Runner. 6-7 yrs old?Absolutely stunning #jawonthefloor
— Jim Franklin (@milkmaker73) May 17, 2013
#MyFirstStarWarsMemory I don't actually have one. It's like language, it's been part of my life for so long that I don't have a first memory
— Aldo Ojeda (@aldoojeda) May 17, 2013
#MyFirstStarWarsMemory Age 5, scared to see the movie w/ the "big red monkey" (Chewbacca). Begged my parents to see "Benji" #fatherknowsbest
— Dace Campbell (@DaceCampbell) May 17, 2013
#myfirststarwarsmemory trying to still watch a new hope while ducked under a table during the northridge earthquake
— Doug Porter (@doug_porter) May 17, 2013
#myfirststarwarsmemory is fighting off all the girls in kinder who wanted to play Star Wars bc there was only ONE Princess Leia. @starwars
— Jenn Rodriguez(@JennJenn1074) May 17, 2013
@starwars#MyFirstStarWarsMemory the film breaking during the Death Star trench run and not seeing the end until the next weekend. May 1977
— Sean Mullin (@Sean_Mullin_) May 17, 2013
#MyFirstStarWarsMemory was going to see Jedi in the theater with my Dad, a memory I will repeat w my son when Episode VII comes out in 2 yrs
— Mr. Kevin Graber(@kcgwisdom) May 17, 2013
Did anyone else use the cardboard tubes from inside wrapping paper as "light sabers"? Because this girl did. #MyFirstStarWarsMemory
— Clairification (@thedailyclaire) May 17, 2013
@starwars #MyFirstStarWarsMemory Being seven years old in '77, and sitting down front in the theater; the Star Destroyer looked a mile wide!
— John Hanlin (@pittboy87) May 17, 2013
Pretending to be sick so I could stay home from school to watch them.#MyFirstStarWarsMemory
— Marilynn † (@murryelizabeth) May 17, 2013
#MyFirstStarWarsMemory Han Solo in carbonite. I was 4/5 and I didn't understand so my dad told me they'd kind of pickled him for a while :D
— Alexandria Hope (@zandryah) May 17, 2013
Seeing ROTJ in the theater (RKO Keith's - Flushing, NY) I was 3 & it's one of my 1st memories at all @starwars#myFirstStarWarsMemory
— Frank Hallam (@nuftjedi) May 17, 2013
Blogger Sarah Sprague points out that plans for the new Minnesota Vikings stadium reveal it to be strongly reminiscent of a Jawa Sandcrawler:
Image from Vikings.com
It's not the first building in the world to look like a Sandcrawler. In fact, Lucasfilm itself is building a Sandcrawler in Singapore:
Image from Pursuitist.com
Kissing Suzy Kolber: The New Vikings Stadium Looks Like the Sandcrawler in Star Wars
RebelForce Radio (a Star Wars radio show and podcast) recently recorded a live commentary of Star Wars with actor Sam Witwer. If you've got the film on Blu-Ray (I don't), you can cue it up to play in sync with the commentary as you listen.
Witwer has been a voice actor in the Clone Wars TV show and in a number of LucasArts video games. I don't know much about him and frankly didn't expect much. I was pleasantly surprised by how thoughtful and informed his commentary was.
Shotglass Digital: Star Wars Celebrity Commentary: Episode IV - A New Hope
Star Wars Celebrity Commentary: Episode IV - A New Hope (direct link)
Sadly there's no way to embed this video, but here's the link if you're interested. Warning: there's a 15 second commercial first.
CTV British Columbia | Videos - 9000 Canadians list Jedi Knight as religion
Canada's latest census results show that the number of adherents to Jediism (i.e., as a religion) is declining. From CTV News:
Once numbering in the vicinity of 20,000, the ranks of those in this country who claim to be Jedi Knights have dwindled to fewer than half that figure, according to Statistics Canada's first release of data from the 2011 National Household Survey.
"A lot less this time. I think there's about 9,000 reporting Jedi," said Jane Badets, a senior analyst at Statistics Canada.
"And that was true elsewhere in other countries. A lot less than in other countries, too, doing censuses. Very low reporting of things like Jedi."
What started as a gag among friends on a British Columbia ski hill ballooned into something of a phenomenon on the 2001 census when thousands of Canadians told Statistics Canada they followed the Jedi religion of Star Wars lore.
This pattern is consistent with the results of the recent UK census, where Jediism is also in decline. The joke's getting a bit old, I suppose.
(By the way, if there's a prize for "strained references to Star Wars in a story title", this one wins.)
CTV News: Started as B.C. gag, strong force claiming to be Jedi knights dwindling (with thanks to @mspratt)
Thursday, May 23, 2013 at 9:10PM