Star Wars fans building a full-sized Millennium Falcon

Because there simply is no such thing as too much Star Wars...

A dude named Chris Lee has assembled a crack team of volunteers to bring their collective hydrospanners together to build... a full-sized model of the Millennium Falcon from the Star Wars movies.

From FullScaleFalcon.com, the official site of The Full Scale Millennium Falcon Project: "This is a quest to build the ultimate Star Wars prop: a 1:1 scale ESB/ANH hybrid Millennium Falcon with complete, correctly scaled interior. Yes, I have completely lost my mind, just like most of my friends and family say. Except for my close Star Wars fan friends, who say 'cool, can I help?'."

Yes, the interior as well! Does that mean they've figured out what a "fresher" is supposed to look like?! We've already gotten to see the bathrooms in the Star Trek and Babylon 5 franchises: surely they have water closets in a galaxy far, far away too.

Click on the link above for much more about this grand endeavor... which apparently, judging by the photos on the site, is already very well along!

Read More

Dear Disney:

Please hire this guy...

Read More

No Jedi mind trick: Disney buying Lucasfilm for $4 billion, STAR WARS EPISODE VII coming in 2015!

Call it "Walt Disney Galaxy".

What's not widely known among even die-hard fans of the saga is that around 1990, Michael Eisner was seriously putting a bug into George Lucas’ ear about Disney being the distributor of any future Star Wars movies.  Especially the prequels.  Which would have been an absolute perfect storm of FUBAR.  But then, that was when Eisner was running Disney...

Today?  I'm thinking... this might be the best thing that has happened to Star Wars in a long, long time.

The news busting the Intertubes wide open this afternoon is that Disney is purchasing Lucasfilm!  The deal is for $4 billion.

But that's NOT all.  Because along with the acqusition... 2015 will see the release of Star Wars Episode VII!

Feel free to pick your jaw from the floor after reading that.  When I was sent the news of it a short while ago, my immediate reaction was "Is this a joke?!?"

It's not.  A new Star Wars trilogy is seriously going to happen.  There really will be the nine movies that we were told for more than two decades would be made.  One new Star Wars movie a year beginning in 2015... and quite possibly many more to come down the line as well.

Look!  Official Press Release!

Burbank, CA and San Francisco, CA, October 30, 2012 – Continuing its strategy of delivering exceptional creative content to audiences around the world, The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS) has agreed to acquire Lucasfilm Ltd. in a stock and cash transaction. Lucasfilm is 100% owned by Lucasfilm Chairman and Founder, George Lucas.

Under the terms of the agreement and based on the closing price of Disney stock on October 26, 2012, the transaction value is $4.05 billion, with Disney paying approximately half of the consideration in cash and issuing approximately 40 million shares at closing. The final consideration will be subject to customary post-closing balance sheet adjustments.

"Lucasfilm reflects the extraordinary passion, vision, and storytelling of its founder, George Lucas," said Robert A. Iger, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of The Walt Disney Company. "This transaction combines a world-class portfolio of content including Star Wars, one of the greatest family entertainment franchises of all time, with Disney's unique and unparalleled creativity across multiple platforms, businesses, and markets to generate sustained growth and drive significant long-term value."

"For the past 35 years, one of my greatest pleasures has been to see Star Wars passed from one generation to the next," said George Lucas, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Lucasfilm. "It's now time for me to pass Star Wars on to a new generation of filmmakers. I've always believed that Star Wars could live beyond me, and I thought it was important to set up the transition during my lifetime. I'm confident that with Lucasfilm under the leadership of Kathleen Kennedy, and having a new home within the Disney organization, Star Wars will certainly live on and flourish for many generations to come. Disney's reach and experience give Lucasfilm the opportunity to blaze new trails in film, television, interactive media, theme parks, live entertainment, and consumer products."

Under the deal, Disney will acquire ownership of Lucasfilm, a leader in entertainment, innovation and technology, including its massively popular and "evergreen" Star Wars franchise and its operating businesses in live action film production, consumer products, animation, visual effects, and audio post production. Disney will also acquire the substantial portfolio of cutting-edge entertainment technologies that have kept audiences enthralled for many years. Lucasfilm, headquartered in San Francisco, operates under the names Lucasfilm Ltd., LucasArts, Industrial Light & Magic, and Skywalker Sound, and the present intent is for Lucasfilm employees to remain in their current locations.

Kathleen Kennedy, current Co-Chairman of Lucasfilm, will become President of Lucasfilm, reporting to Walt Disney Studios Chairman Alan Horn. Additionally she will serve as the brand manager for Star Wars, working directly with Disney's global lines of business to build, further integrate, and maximize the value of this global franchise. Ms. Kennedy will serve as executive producer on new Star Wars feature films, with George Lucas serving as creative consultant. Star Wars Episode 7 is targeted for release in 2015, with more feature films expected to continue the Star Wars saga and grow the franchise well into the future.

The acquisition combines two highly compatible family entertainment brands, and strengthens the long-standing beneficial relationship between them that already includes successful integration of Star Wars content into Disney theme parks in Anaheim, Orlando, Paris and Tokyo.

Driven by a tremendously talented creative team, Lucasfilm's legendary Star Wars franchise has flourished for more than 35 years, and offers a virtually limitless universe of characters and stories to drive continued feature film releases and franchise growth over the long term. Star Wars resonates with consumers around the world and creates extensive opportunities for Disney to deliver the content across its diverse portfolio of businesses including movies, television, consumer products, games and theme parks. Star Wars feature films have earned a total of $4.4 billion in global box to date, and continued global demand has made Star Wars one of the world's top product brands, and Lucasfilm a leading product licensor in the United States in 2011. The franchise provides a sustainable source of high quality, branded content with global appeal and is well suited for new business models including digital platforms, putting the acquisition in strong alignment with Disney's strategic priorities for continued long-term growth.

The Lucasfilm acquisition follows Disney's very successful acquisitions of Pixar and Marvel, which demonstrated the company's unique ability to fully develop and expand the financial potential of high quality creative content with compelling characters and storytelling through the application of innovative technology and multiplatform distribution on a truly global basis to create maximum value. Adding Lucasfilm to Disney's portfolio of world class brands significantly enhances the company's ability to serve consumers with a broad variety of the world's highest-quality content and to create additional long-term value for our shareholders.

The Boards of Directors of Disney and Lucasfilm have approved the transaction, which is subject to clearance under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act, certain non-United States merger control regulations, and other customary closing conditions. The agreement has been approved by the sole shareholder of Lucasfilm.

Personally, I believe this to be a very wise and commendable decision by George Lucas.  It means that the universe he created will not be forever restricted to the six movies he produced, but will instead be nurtured and tended to and allowed to flourish for generations to come.  Sometimes, it takes a fresh approach to keep things going.  J.J. Abrams did that beautifully with 2009's Star Trek, and that certainly was faithful to the spirit and meaning of the original franchise.  I think the same potential is there for Star Wars as well.

There will be a new Star Wars trilogy.

Now, that's something I sure as heck never thought for a moment I would ever be writing on this blog! :-)

UPDATE 6:21 p.m. EST: It is HIGHLY suggested that y'all read Steve Sansweet's blog post about the Disney acquisition of Lucasfilm. In it he reveals a bunch of intriguing stuff about what's been going on behind the scenes of Star Wars for these past several years: including how George Lucas has been quietly developing a third trilogy - set after Return of the Jedi - all along!

Looks like I'll be wearing my Jedi Knight costume for many, many more years to come. Incidentally, I discovered this past weekend that it's excellent for ballroom dancing in :-)

UPDATE 6:32 p.m. EST: A whole heap more was discussed during the Disney investors' conference call this afternoon. Among other things: an "extensive and detailed" treatment for the 7-9 trilogy was purchased and Disney is feeling "very good" about it. Indiana Jones is also part of the deal. George Lucas will serve as creative consultant for the new Star Wars movies. And there exists a great possibility that the Star Wars movies will eventually encompass the entire 20,000-years of the saga's mythology.

Dare we dream of a trilogy set during the Old Republic era?!?

"Hello, Mr. Iger? Where do I audition for the part of Darth Malgus?" :-P

Read More

Dear friends in the Northeast...

Good night, and good luck.

October 29 2012: Hurricane Sandy floods the site of the World Trade Center in New York City

Read More

The Governor! Review of this week's THE WALKING DEAD

Does this guy have the most gruesome man-cave ever, or what?

"Walk With Me", last night's episode of AMC's smash series The Walking Dead, at long last brought us the much-anticipated appearance of The Governor: a character voted a few years ago as one of the greatest villains in comic book history.

Okay, so David Morrisey doesn't resemble his graphic novel incarnation that much. But nonetheless Morrisey's Governor has finally brought this show something that's been a long time coming: a true breathing nemesis. For two seasons we've watched Rick and his group - unseen this week but presumably still holding their ground at the prison - fight off the walkers and not much else. But here comes The Governor. Mindless walkers and rogue survivors have been one thing. The head of a whole town and his very own well-munitioned army is gonna quite another.

"Walk With Me" picks up Andrea and Michonne's tale, with the ladies (and Michonne's ummm... "pets on a leash") coming across a crashed helicopter. The Governor and his boys arrive and in short order the girls are found... by a very much still-alive Merle (Michael Rooker), not seen since cutting off his right hand with a hacksaw in Season One. But no worries, 'cuz Merle has been fitted with a well-armed prosthetic.

And then we get to Woodbury: AKA "Mayberry Among the Living Dead". Complete with its very own town drunk. Maybe there's an Ernest T. Bass somewhere who'll throw rocks at the walkers.

Only two real action sequences in this episode. But even so, "Walk With Me" laid down a lot of new ground for no doubt quite a long time to come. The seemingly benign Governor hides the fact that he's a hard-boiled badass as well as he does his "living room". Given what last night's episode portends for his character, it wouldn't surprise me if Morrisey got an Emmy nomination.

Quite a solid episode. Quieter than the previous two episodes, but a hella appetizer for more.

Read More

This is the pastor of the church I'm going to

Meet "Hobo Joe"!

That's the pastor of the church I've been going to, in his clown/hobo getup at the beginning of yesterday's worship service. I forget what "H.O.B.O" is an acronym for but it's something to do with kicking off the annual general fund drive.

Joe is quite a cool fella! Incidentally, I offered him the use of my Jedi Knight costume if he ever wanted to use it. A sermon preached by "Jedi Joe"? I bet a wazoo of people would dig that :-)

Read More

You know who you are!

I'm gonna say something here and I don't care who reads it or what the hell they're gonna think of me...

ANY man who throws away a beautiful wife and some of the most amazing children that I have ever seen God bless ANYONE with, who mistreats the woman that he had been married to for so long, is a TOTAL BASTARD.

I admit that my bout with bipolar made me make life a living hell for those closest to me, especially my former wife and I'll always regret that... but even in the darkest times of that abyss I was NOT the asshole that some men seem determined to be. Men who even seem PROUD to be such assholes!

Guys, if God has given you a wonderful wife and such beautiful and smart children and you not only throw that away but treat them THAT bad, well... you not only NEVER deserved to be so blessed to begin with, you SHOULD be made to spend the rest of your miserable pathetic excuse of a life ALONE and REJECTED... because you brought it upon yourself, you f-cking piece of maggot-ridden garbage!!!

(And that's honestly the nicest epithet that I can come up with for a certain someone who I know is a regular reader of this blog.)

Awright... "Beast Mode" off.

Read More

Two small musings on politics

Voting in America has devolved into middle-school immaturity: dominated by petty cliques, peer pressure and lots of masturbation (figuratively, thank goodness...).

Allow me to remark that I know lots of real middle-schoolers, mostly from community theater... and they ALL act more mature than the voting adults are right now!

Then I have to observe that the vast majority of political news, indeed news that passes for "top stories" among the television/print/major online media, are polls. Nothing but polls. Polls, polls, polls...

That's what American politics has become: a popularity contest. We aren't even pretending that it's not anymore.

We're supposed to be better than this.

Read More

North Korean army official executed... by mortar round

"Yup, he blowed up real good!!"

A vice-minister of the North Korean military has been put to death for "drinking and carousing" during the official mourning for that country's late despot Kim Jong-il.

And to emphasize the point, the poor dude was executed by mortar fire...

Kim Chol, vice minister of the army, was taken into custody earlier this year on the orders of Kim Jong-un, who assumed the leadership after the death of his father in December.

On the orders of Kim Jong-un to leave "no trace of him behind, down to his hair," according to South Korean media, Kim Chol was forced to stand on a spot that had been zeroed in for a mortar round and "obliterated."

The execution of Kim Chol is just one example of a purge of members of the North Korean military or party who threatened the fledgling regime of Kim Jong-un.

Sheeeesh... Talk about overkill.

Read the rest of this explosive story at The Telegraph here.

Read More

Brilliant essays by Chuck Baldwin: Christian warmongers and American comfort

Chuck Baldwin, Christian writer and thinker extraordinaire, is always a treat to read. But his two most recent columns, I found to be especially illuminating.

First there is this one from last week: "They Prefer Caviar, Even If It Comes With Chains", in which Baldwin articulates why too many Americans... including far too many American Christians... have given up the risks of liberty for the comfort of security and in doing so have ended up as slaves. To amplify the point he uses a story from the Book of Acts...

There is an Old Testament story that parallels with what is going on in America today. The story is found in Numbers chapter 11. God had delivered His people from great bondage. They witnessed His mighty hand of power and deliverance in defeating their oppressors and leading them toward a land of promise and liberty. He even dropped “angels’ food” (called manna) from Heaven to sustain them. But after being delivered from bondage, they began to yearn for a return to Egypt. In verse 5 of that chapter, the people are recorded as complaining, “We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlick.” (KJV)

Can you believe it? After hundreds of years of floggings, imprisonments, beatings, chains, and slavery, they remember FISH? I don’t know if caviar was considered a delicacy back in those days. If it wasn’t, I suppose it’s possible that slaves ate fish eggs also. But can you believe it? After being delivered from the worst possible slavery, all they remembered was the fish? Holy Creepers, Batman!

Now, to understand what’s going on here, we have to read verse 4, “And the mixt multitude that was among them fell a lusting: and the children of Israel also.”

I have heard countless sermons on this passage, and in all honesty I cannot remember one that identified what they were lusting after. Lust here means “to covet greatly.” So, what were they coveting? Was it food? Was it the fish, cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic? No! What they coveted, what they lusted after, was SECURITY!

In the wilderness, there was risk, uncertainty, and potential failure. They had to depend totally on divine Providence. They could not see what the morrow would hold. There were no guarantees, no entitlements, and no assurances. And even though God had delivered them with great power, sustained them daily with manna, and promised them a land of freedom of their very own, they lusted after security. To them, security was more important than liberty.

If this story does not parallel with what is happening in America right now, nothing does! God delivered the American people out of great bondage. He proved His power and might on our behalf. He gave us a land of liberty of our very own. And now all Americans seem to be able to think about are the fish, cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic of bondage. They lust for, and greatly covet, SECURITY.

It seems that there is no usurpation of liberty so egregious that the American people, both churched and un-churched, will not gladly accept, as long as it is presented to them as a way to make them feel more secure. In truth, so many Americans–especially so many of those who call themselves Christians–are practicing idolaters. They are worshipping at the altar of safety and security. Big Government politicians and bureaucrats are the priests, the Department of Homeland Security is the temple, and the taxes, fees, and assessments are the tithes and offerings. Hallelujah!

There is much more that Baldwin writes, and It's all well worth the time to read it.

And this week, Baldwin is asking "How Did Christians Become Warmongers?"

And I realize that right now the vast majority of evangelicals eat, breathe, and sleep only one mantra: “Get rid of Obama!” They would vote for anybody to beat Obama. Well, anybody except Ron Paul, that is. Evangelicals might hate Ron Paul more than they do Barack Obama. And after Mitt Romney is elected on November 6, these same “Christians” will go into a state of extended hibernation, ignoring every unconstitutional big-government decision that Romney makes. Not only that, buckle your seat belts boys and girls, because Romney is going to expand America’s foreign wars (and the emerging police state at home) like nobody’s business. And when he does, guess what? Evangelicals will be the ones who clap and cheer the most.

Let me ask my Christian brethren some questions: does God give governmental leaders a pass on obeying His moral laws? If God will hold you and me accountable to His command to not murder, for example, will He not hold our civil magistrates accountable to His command to not murder? Or do you really believe that murder is justified on the word of a king? If so, had you been alive in Hitler’s Germany, you would have supported his atrocities, too, right? And is that whom you think occupies 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue: a king? Is murder justified simply because a magistrate orders it? And if that’s true, is it then justified that government forces pillage, plunder, and rape? If not, why not? After all, if it’s lawful for men to murder on the command of a magistrate, why can they not pillage, plunder, and rape? What’s the difference?

Accordingly, I personally believe that evangelicals owe Bill Clinton an apology. They excoriated him when it came to light that he had committed adultery. They then turned around and supported G.W. Bush’s unconstitutional, unprovoked, preemptive wars of aggression, which resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of innocents. Pray tell, if a President is exempt from the moral law against shedding innocent blood (Genesis 9:6; Proverbs 6:17) why should he not be exempt from the moral law against adultery?

Believe it or not, a local pastor here in the Flathead Valley of Montana recently preached a message to his congregation on Romans 13 with the typical erroneous “obey-the-government-no-matter-what” claptrap. When a member of his congregation later asked him personally to explain himself, he told the parishioner, “If government agents or troops came to my house and laid my wife on the kitchen table and raped her, Romans 13 tells me I cannot resist.” That’s what he said, folks. I’m not making it up.

Ouch! That's gonna leave a mark!

Read the rest of this most fine article here.

Read More

NYPD cop arrested for plot to kidnap, cook, and eat women

Read all the unsavory details here.

I suppose they were all out of donuts at the local shop, huh?

Read More

TSA removing cancer machines? Really?

I haven't heard Mitt Romney say a single nary thing about eliminating the Department of Homeland Security and completely scrapping the Transportation Security Administration. That he hasn't and apparently approves of those governmental monstrosities is just one more reason why the Romney/Ryan ticket won't get my vote next month. Neither will Obama/Biden, but that's a post for next week.

But just in time for the election, The TSA is removing those cancer machines it euphemistically calls "body scanners" from major airports. The official line is that the cancer machines are being relocated to smaller airports in an effort to "speed things up" across the board.

But there are serious reasons to consider that rather than completely giving up on Nude-o-vision(tm), the TSA may in fact be gearing up to implement even WORSE technology: namely scanners with much finer resolution and stronger abilities at detecting small objects on a person (what objects those are is an exercise for the reader). In other words, the government-mandated radiation risk may not be going away at all and might be set to get worse.

(Many of us are still waiting for Janet Napolitano, the head of Homeland Security, to go through one of those machines herself. Alas! She adamantly refuses.)

In the meantime, the Transportation Security Administration thugs continue to sexually grope people with terminal cancer, strand U.S. citizens in Hawaii because of the nebulous and unconstitutional "no-fly list", steal iPads from passengers just for the hell of it, steal money from passengers because said passengers weren't "obedient" enough and complained about TSA abuse, refuse to allow passengers to board because of "bad attitude", and habitually grope and harass little children and elderly citizens.

Had enough of this crap, Mr. and Mrs. America? Is it gonna take getting tumors all over your body to say "enough"?

Read More

By Crom! Schwarzenegger making a new Conan movie!

(And just to be clear, Ah-nuldt is not playing Conan O'Brien.)

Personally, I think this is ten years too late. Wanna know why? Because sometime before 9/11 happened there was serious work afoot to make a true sequel to 1982's Conan the Barbarian: one that would forget that Conan the Destroyer ever happened. King Conan: Crown of Iron had a script written by John Milius and was going to be produced by the Wachowski Brothers (back when the Wachowskis were still brothers, that's all I'm gonna say).

I was able to read the King Conan: Crown of Iron script several years ago. It was spot-on perfect as a follow-up to Conan the Barbarian. It even had Conan saying another prayer to Conan. My favorite part though took place at the beginning of the story: a scene paralleling the one from the original of Conan's father speaking to Conan about the riddle of steel. This script had Conan talking to his son about steel, and how Junior would one day have to break Conan's sword, just as Conan broke his father's sword in the first movie.

Brilliant stuff. And it would have made a hella good movie... had Arnold Schwarzenegger not going off to be Governor of California.

I don't know if this is gonna atone for King Conan: Crown of Iron not getting produced. But it's something anyway: Arnold Schwarzenegger is going to return as Conan in the just-announced The Legend of Conan, set for release in 2014. This is meant to be the proper sequel to Conan the Barbarian, which ended with a lingering scene several years later of Conan sitting on a throne and Mako's voice promising us that "this story shall also be told."

(Hey, better thirty-two years late than never, huh?)

Slash here for more at GeekTyrant.com.

Read More

Well...

...that was a crazy past 72 or so hours!!

Got a lot accomplished though. More than I've been able to do in a long long time.

So I remembered that I have a blog. Guess I should post some stuff and try to get caught up, huh?

Read More

Finally watched this week's THE WALKING DEAD...

...and it would be "Sick" even if that wasn't the episode title.

This week's episode focused solely on Rick's group at the prison, and picked right up from the end of last week: with Hershel's severed leg bleeding-out and the Rick's posse finding a small group of still-living inmates.

That was plenty enough to launch a solid hour of some of the most intense and gruesome television I've ever witnessed. We got a lot in "Sick": an idea of how long it's been since the outbreak began (almost an entire year), some notion of how fast the infection works (given what happened to Hershel), and most of all how far Rick will go to keep the group safe. Can't say that I blame him: my girlfriend remarked that Tomas is "Shane 2.0".

Two bits of highlighted action in this episode: obviously one is the prisoners forgetting everything that Rick and his team had told them about how to take down the walkers (I was screaming "YOU IDIOTS!" at my TV screen). Then there's Carl, come back nonchalant from the task he took upon himself to accomplish. The kid is growing up fast and hard in a world gone to hell... so for better or for worse we'll prolly be asking "Where is Carl?" for a long time to come.

Next week on The Walking Dead heralds the arrival of a character that fans of the comic book have eagerly waited two years for. The Governor is coming. And I have to wonder just how far AMC is willing to go with him...

Read More

Antoni Dobrowolski, the oldest survivor of Auschwitz, has passed away

During my lifetime, I have met six survivors of the Nazi concentration camps. Each of them Jewish. Some were at Treblinka. Some at Bergen-Belsen. Some at Auschwitz.

Hearing only them tell his or her story would remain as one of the most humbling and heartbreaking and in the end most inspirational tale of human hope that I have ever listened to. To hear the tales of six such people leaves a far greater impression upon one's mind of the sacredness of even one human life. These people and many more went through Hell on Earth... but not one of them came out of it with affirmation that in spite of the evil that mankind is capable of, there is also a far greater potential for good. Every single survivor of the camps is, has been and forever will be a victory against those who sought their extermination. For all that was done to them, they yet lived to see their children and their children's children be born.

Born in 1904 in Wolborz, Poland, Antoni Dobrowolski saw more of that unbridled evil and final triumph than most could ever claim. A teacher by trade, he was 38 when he was arrested by the Nazis for educating the children of Poland.

That's all that he had to do to be arrested and sent to a concentration camp. He taught children. The Nazis believed that the Poles were a sub-human race regardless of whether they were Jew or Gentile. For this "crime", Dobrowolski was sent to Auschwitz: the very worst of the German death camps.

Dobrowoloski was one of the lucky few: chosen to live and work and not to perish in "the showers". He held onto life in a place "worse than Dante's hell", until the Allies liberated the camp in 1945.

After the war, Dobrowolski returned to the career that was his passion: teaching young minds. He eventually became a principal at an elementary school and then a high school. Teaching about his experience in the Holocaust as much as about the Polish language to children.

I think it can be said that many, many generations were taught and encouraged and influenced for the better by this man, who courageously defied the edicts of his nation's conquerors and then defied them again in a place of ultimate darkness.

Antoni Dobrowolski, the oldest survivor of the Auschwitz concentration camp, passed away yesterday.

He was 108 years old.

Rest in peace, Mr. Dobrowolski. You taught well that most important lesson of the human condition: you taught hope.

Read More

Off doing filmmaking!

Come back Monday. I promise I won't be too inflammatory. Maybe.

Read More