Star Wars toothbrush launch party with mom bloggers

One of the many great things about New York City is the fabulous social scene (or so I'm told). Take for instance the MomTrends/G.U.M Star Wars™Toothbrush Launch Party last Thursday. From MomTrends: 

Daughter to mum: WTF?Momtrends joined forces with Star Wars™/Sunstar G.U.M for an out-of-this world evening. Jedi Knights and their masters in training (mom bloggers) attacked Ripley’s Believe It Or Not in NYC to learn more about the new Star Wars™ toothbrushes and oral health for their young troops.

...

Kiddos enjoyed a host of activities including the the Laser Race- a maze of red laser beams, the black hole [?], Star Wars™ arts and crafts and a museum scavenger hunt.

While the [Jedi, presumably] knights played, the bloggers joined Dr. Ignelzi, DDS, PhD, a pediatric dentist and orthodontist in Greensboro, NC for vital information on oral health care for children.

New York City. I bet there's a toothbrush launch party there every night.

MomTrends: G.U.M Star Wars™Toothbrush Launch Party 

TSOT discovers its nemesis

Appreciating the prequels ain't no picnic. You need limitations of liability.It turns out that the This Sort Of Thing blog has an evil twin: a blog by the name of the Star Wars Prequel Appreciation Society. I am not making this up. From the About page:

As an old-school Star Wars fan since 1977, I love the prequels too. It’s been hard seeing these fine films excessively criticized by the media and on the internet. With so much focus on the negative, I believe the many hardcore fans and casual filmgoers who enjoyed the prequels have been ignored and left voiceless. Well, not anymore!

This site is for all Star Wars fans, young and old, new or long-time devotees, whose love for the saga encompasses the prequel trilogy as well as the classic trilogy. The goal of the SWPAS is to promote these films as a worthy part of the Star Wars saga, to promote them as classics in their own right, and to encourage a positive effect on the media, the popular culture, and the internet.

If you can’t imagine Star Wars without Padmé and her handmaidens, Coruscant, padawans, clonetroopers, butt-kicking Yoda, Darth Maul, the Jedi Council, podraces, Qui-Gon Jinn, Count Dooku, Watto, Naboo, General Grievous, Ahsoka Tano, or even good ol’ Jar Jar, then this site is your Club Med. Celebrate all that rocks about Episodes I-III and The Clone Wars!!

Following this stirring proclamation is an impressively long list of comments from prequel-loving fans, stretching back to 2008, including such gems as "Also I hate the phrase “Classic Trilogy” it’s so presumptive" and "It seems arrogant to say that you know better than the creator [i.e. George Lucas]". 

The site also prominently features a "Warranty and Limitation of Liability". The so-called warranty is not a warranty at all but a sort of disclaimer. The limitation of liability reads in part:

IN NO EVENT SHALL MY EMPLOYEES, INDEPENDENT CONTRACTORS, AFFILIATES, OR AGENTS OR I BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, PUNITIVE, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM ANY (I) ERRORS, MISTAKES, OR INACCURACIES OF CONTENT, (II) PERSONAL INJURY OR PROPERTY DAMAGE, OF ANY NATURE WHATSOEVER, RESULTING FROM YOUR ACCESS TO AND USE OF OUR WEBSITE, (III) UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS TO OR USE OF OUR SECURE SERVERS AND/OR ANY AND ALL PERSONAL INFORMATION AND/OR FINANCIAL INFORMATION STORED THEREIN, (IV) INTERRUPTION OR CESSATION OF TRANSMISSION TO OR FROM OUR WEBSITE, (V) BUGS, VIRUSES, TROJAN HORSES, OR THE LIKE, WHICH MAY BE TRANSMITTED TO OR THROUGH OUR WEBSITE BY ANY THIRD PARTY, AND/OR (VI) ERRORS OR OMISSIONS IN ANY CONTENT OR FOR ANY LOSS OR DAMAGE OF ANY KIND INCURRED AS A RESULT OF YOUR USE OF ANY CONTENT POSTED, EMAILED, TRANSMITTED, OR OTHERWISE MADE AVAILABLE VIA THIS SITE, WHETHER BASED ON WARRANTY, CONTRACT, TORT, OR ANY OTHER LEGAL THEORY, AND WHETHER OR NOT THE COMPANY IS ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. THE FOREGOING LIMITATION OF LIABILITY SHALL APPLY TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW IN THE APPLICABLE JURISDICTION.

I can only interpret this as an admission that loving the prequels is an error and may in fact be harmful to your health. 

Finally, the site includes a page called "About The Shoppe" (pronounced shop-ee, I believe) explaining that all items sold through the shoppe "are designed NOT to infringe upon any copyright or trademarks held by Lucasfilm, Ltd., Twentieth Century Fox/News Corp., or any licensee". Yet I can find no linkke to the shoppe itselffe. 

The Star Wars Prequel Appreciation Society

Comme des idiots: Star Wars teams up with poncy fashion house to make stupid Star Wars clothes

Comme des garçons is, I gather, a Franco-Japanese fashion label with boutiques in Paris, Tokyo, London, etc. Visiting their web site will annoy you in fifteen seconds or less, guaranteed. 

More annoying still is that CDG is the latest licensee of that marketing genius, George Lucas. Lifestyle blog Yeah, I love it! reports that CDG Shirts has teamed up with Lucas for their upcoming Fall/Winter 2012/13 collection. Surf over to see more photos of miserable-looking young men with awful haircuts wearing stupid clothing featuring Yoda, Vader, Artoo, etc.

Yeah I Love It: Comme des Garçons Shirt with George Lucas and his Star Wars

Yodaphone--the latest product pitch from Star Wars Inc.

UK mobile phone company Vodafone is the latest to recruit Star Wars characters to sell their widgets. This time it's Yoda interrupting diners at a sushi restaurant to help them transfer contacts from an old phone to new one. Seriously.

But "Jedi training" is not needed thanks to some boring new Vodafone product, the informatively-named Red Box. Sushi Eater #1 tells Yoda to mind his own business while Sushi Eater #2 (SE#1's date) stares incredulously, nearly rolling her eyes, at the bad-mannered Dagobahn swampdweller. Put in his place, Yoda mumbles to himself and turns back to his sushi.

I keep thinking it can't get worse. But it does. And there are apparently more Yodaphone ads to come. As Gizmodo UK puts it, "The shameful ruination of the Star Wars brand continues."

Gizmodo: Star Wars Lowers Itself to Selling Mobile Phone Contracts

Three stunningly boring news items about Star Wars

Princess Leia--stunned by the boringness of today's newsThere are three supposedly big stories making the rounds today about Star Wars, and they're all completely boring.

Star Wars TV show title might have been revealed

Several outlets are reporting and repeating an interview with Rick McCallum in which he reveals the working title of a proposed Star Wars live-action television series, Star Wars: Underworld. McCallum also whines about how expensive it would be to make this program--George Lucas being notoriously short on cash--and fantasizes about what the show, which currently exists only in the form of a few scripts--never the strongest part of a Lucasfilm project--might be like.

Rick McCallum is the man who produced the prequels and the Special Edition version of the original trilogy. Need I say more? Nothing he touches is likely to be of any interest to me.

Collider.com: Star Wars Live-Action Series May Be Titled Star Wars: Underworld

William Shatner refuses a Star Wars/Star Trek truce

I've been studiously avoiding this item for months because it is so stupid. Two of the world's less dignified senior citizens, Carrie Fisher and William Shatner, have been attracting media attention to themselves by engaging in a supposed argument about the relative merits of the two franchises. No doubt envious of these last embers of spotlight falling on a man he notoriously hates, George Takei weighed in with a video post calling for a truce. This was supposed to be funny but it wasn't.

Now the Shat is back with a barely comprehensible reply to Takei in which he refuses to accept a truce. Inexplicably, he is standing in a desert wearing a grey jacket and black tie. Clearly referring to the Takei/Shat dispute rather than the Star Wrek phoney war, the spiteful old nutter says, "George, you're the greatest threat to equanimity and peacefulness. You've carried on a feud for all these years. You can't just dissolve it in a matter of words."

So...bored...can't...type...dfklaj skl yu7h

Zap2It: William Shatner won't participate in George Takei's 'Star Wars'/'Star Trek' peace efforts

Star Wars Porn Trailer

I have read that George Lucas once accompanied Francis Ford Coppolla to an adult film industry awards show. If so, he was probably wearing a plaid shirt. Anyway, the safe-for-work trailer of a so-called pornographic parody of Star Wars is making the rounds. It could not be more dull. It may be safe for work but it's still three minutes of your life you'll never get back.

Gamma Squad: New Safe-For-Work Trailer For the Star Wars Porn Parody

Russian Phantom Menace 3D poster

MovieWeb is showing off what is apparently a Russian publicity poster for The Phantom Menace 3D. There's nothing on it but CGI Yoda, looking resigned and a bit glum. It's as if he is thinking, "This film is being re-released and there is nothing I can do about it."

Wow, can't wait to see that in 3D.

MovieWeb: Star Wars: Episode 1 -- The Phantom Menace 3D International Poster

The Star Wars Christmas Album

I recently posted a long piece on the notorious Star Wars Holiday Special. Now, thanks to Suvudu, comes news of another vintage Star-Wars-themed assault on the holiday season (which, thankfully, I never experienced as a child): "Christmas in the Stars: the Star Wars Christmas Album".

Follow the link to Suvudu.com for audio excerpts from this 1980 travesty, including such ear-raping tracks as "What Can You Get a Wookiee for Christmas (When He Already Owns a Comb?)". 

Wikipedia gives the following description of the album, including references to some surprising personnel:

The album was produced by Meco Monardo (who had previously recorded Star Wars and Other Galactic Funk), with the hope that this would be the first in a series of annual Star Wars Christmas albums. The majority of the album's original songs were written by Maury Yeston, a Yale University music professor who went on to become a Tony Award-winning Broadway musical composer.

The album is notable for featuring the first professional recording of Jon Bon Jovi (credited as "John Bongiovi", his birth name), who sang lead vocals on the song "R2-D2 We Wish You A Merry Christmas." His cousin Tony Bongiovi co-produced the album and ran the recording studio at which it was recorded, where Jon was working sweeping floors at the time.

After the first printing of 150,000 copies, Meco was asked to allow George Lucas' name to be credited beside his under "Concept by". Due to the success of the album, the studios were ready to do a second printing, which would give Lucas credit. But before the second record printing could be done, RSO Records shut down due to an unrelated lawsuit.

Not mentioned here is Anthony Daniels, whose C-3PO voice is unmistakable on the track, "The Odds Against Christmas". Daniels is something of a marvel to me. Is there anything he will not stoop to? Has he ever refused a paying gig? 

Suvudu.com: Selections from "Christmas in the Stars: the Star Wars Christmas Album"

Wikipedia: Christmas in the Stars

From SW-themed weddings to prequel-themed engagement photos

I've really got to quit covering these geeks-in-love stories. They make me feel like a motorist passing a roadside accident--you don't want to see something horrible but you can't stop looking. Asylum UK explains (or at least recounts):

Photographer Michael James said the couple from San Francisco initially contacted him requesting a more traditional engagement photo-shoot with them wearing a suit and dress on a beach.

But when he discovered they were both huge Star Wars fans (despite being more of a Trekkie himself) James suggested incorporating that into the photos and to his surprise they agreed.

As such they set off for a shoot in the Santa Cruz Mountains with the bride-to-be decked out in full Sith attire, while the groom opted for a Jedi Master look.

The duo, who don't want to be named, then posed for the images while stalking each other through the woods, battling with lightsabers and a few more friendly shots.

Speaking of the shoot James told Asylum: "I didn't think the bride-to-be would actually wear the make-up, but she seriously showed her true colors and went for it.

Asylum UK: Couple celebrate engagement with Star Wars themed photo-shoot

Michael James Photo Studio blog: Star Wars engagement shoot