Stuff

Free comic book day is coming

Free Comic Book Day is a single day that happens each year on the first Saturday of May. On this day, participating comic book shops across North America and around the world give away comic books absolutely FREE to anyone who comes into their stores! How cool is that! You should check with your local comic book shop for their participation and rules. Free Comic Book Day in L.A. with have Geoff Johns, Robert Kirkman, Mike Mignola, Steve Niles signings The Core in Cedar Falls is celebrating their 10th year of the event. Owner Mike Blanchard will donate $400 worth of graphic novels to the school best represented at his shop Saturday. The Bay City Times -On free comic day, Cashman’s Comics will have 100 Green Lantern HeroClix game pieces to give away. What is your area comic book store doing? There’s also a Free Comic Book Day app available…

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Countdown Begins For Star Wars Blu-ray Details

Proving that there’s somebody out there that can generate worse puns than me, Lucasfilm sent an e-mail message out over the weekend hinting that all the details of the Star Wars saga Blu-ray sets will be revealed on May fourth. The e-mail points to the “May the 4th Be With You – Star Wars Countdown page” on StarWars.com. Underneath the timer is the simple phrase “All Will Be Revealed.” To spare you the math, the exact day and time for the reveal is Wednesday, May 4 at 9am EST/6am PST. Thus far all we know about the Star Wars: The Complete Saga on Blu-ray is all six films will be available in a single box set as well as the prequel and original trilogies in their own box sets. LucasFilm has also confirmed that all-new deleted scenes will be included and previewed one featuring Luke at the beginning of Return…

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May The Pork Be With You: Here Comes the Star Wars Porn Parody

The world of the Porn Parody has long held the distinction of featuring some of the greatest, and most creative titles in the entire movie industry landscape. Everyone knows the legend of such tongue-in-cheek (among other body parts) titles as Shaving Ryan’s Privates and Edward Penishands, and now something is even more exciting is happening in the world of filth. A couple of years back, Kevin Smith’s Zack & Miri Make A Porno focused on Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks’ attempt to make a Star Wars based porn flick, and now it seems that reality is about to mimic art with the release of a real XXX parody of George Lucas’ franchise. And it’s in lurid 3D no less! The news comes as star Kylie Ireland posted this photo of the construction of a landspeeder on the set – though to me it looks a lot like someone’s just stuck…

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Winner: Robot Chicken Star Wars Episode III

In the pantheon of Star Wars material, my favorite movie is The Empire Strikes Back. My next favorites? The Robot Chicken specials. So I was thrilled to read that over the weekend the writers on Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode III just won an Annie Award for Writing In A Television Production. The credited writers are Matthew Beans, Zeb Wells, Hugh Sterbakov, Matthew Senreich, Breckin Meyer, Seth Green, Mike Fasolo, Douglas Goldstein, Tom Root, Dan Milano, Kevin Shinick & Hugh Davidson along with one other guy: DC Comics’ Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns. Congratulation to all the winners! The Brewmasters at Cartoon Brew have all the details on all the winners. Be sure the read through the comments while you’re there!

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Star Wars on Blu-ray!

Darth Vader announced the release of the Star Wars Saga on Blu-ray. This announcement was a lavish event held at the Panasonic Booth at CES. Not only did Darth Vader show up with his “friends,” but major representatives from 20th Century Fox and Amazon.com were on hand. Check out the press release below: LAS VEGAS (Jan. 6, 2011) – The most anticipated Blu-ray release ever – the Star Wars Saga – emerges from light speed this September 2011. For the first time, all six of George Lucas’ epic films (Episodes I-VI) are united in one complete set. Fans worldwide are able to pre-order now with online retailers. Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment will release Star Wars in three distinct sets to meet the needs of every Star Wars fan: Star Wars: The Complete Saga on Blu-ray (9-disc Set includes all six films) Star Wars: Prequel Blu-ray Trilogy (3-disc set includes…

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Updated: EA Louse Blog Prompts Response from Industry Insiders

Last week a blogger referred to by the name of EA Louse posted a rather inflammatory blog slamming EA and BioWare Mythic after claiming to have learned that they will be part of a layoff coming to the company next month. The blog went into detail about why the author felt Warhammer Online had failed and why Star Wars: The Old Republic was on the same path. EA Louse went on to state that the company was, “Rewarding the incompetent. Firing the competent.” But EA Louse has sparked a response from a couple of posters. Jeff Preston, a freelance artist in the gaming industry, has posted a response to EA Louse’s blog simply titles, “Anonymity is for cowards” in which he slams EA Louse for being an anonymous poster and defends those targeted by EA Louse’s blog.  Short of being shot at, poisoned, stabbed or otherwise given a bad case…

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Star Wars Retroperspektive: Rare 1977 Harrison Ford Interview Emerges

Yesterday, the New York Times posted a story about a rare 1977 Harrison Ford video interview conducted by a Dallas-Fort Worth news channel reporter just as Star Wars (A New Hope) was making waves across the country during its initial release: Wearing lapels as wide as the Millennium Falcon itself, Mr. Ford actually seems gracious about the budding fantasy franchise and complimentary to its creator, George Lucas, telling his interviewer that though he doesn’t regard himself as the Buck Rogers or Flash Gordon type, the film works because “it’s finally about people and not finally about science, so the energy of the movie goes towards exploring these human relationships.” The interview, which apparently had first been posted to the original reporter’s website bobbiewygant.com back in July (and contains scores of other filmed interviews), presents a rare peek at the actor on the brink of super-stardom in 1977. Check out the…

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The Empire Skates Back

Fans who attended Celebration V this year were not only treated to a Star Wars Tattoo Contest, but also had the chance to check out skateboard decks painted by exceptional tattoo artists. The decks were auctioned off during the Make-A-Wish Auction The Force in the Flesh author Shane Turgeon, who organized the event called “The Empire Skates Back,” contacted some incredible talent to transform the decks into one-of-a-kind works of art for a good cause. Can you describe the gist of the Star Wars Tattoo Art show for fans who didn’t get a chance to see it? The show was called “The Empire Skates Back.” In celebration of the 30th anniversary of The Empire Strikes Back, 30 tattooers were each given a blank skateboard deck to paint, sculpt, or build their homage, rendition or interpretation of this amazing film. Unfortunately, only 22 decks arrived in time for the show, but they were all unbelievable works of art….

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George Lucas joins other billonares in “Giving Pledge”

George Lucas is among the billionaires making a public pledge to give away at least half their wealth to charity. In a letter posted on The Giving Pledge website, Lucas writes: My pledge is to the process; as long as I have the resources at my disposal, I will seek to raise the bar for future generations of students of all ages. I am dedicating the majority of my wealth to improving education. It is the key to the survival of the human race. We have to plan for our collective future – and the first step begins with the social, emotional, and intellectual tools we provide to our children. As humans, our greatest tool for survival is our ability to think and to adapt – as educators, storytellers, and communicators our responsibility is to continue to do so. The “Giving Pledge,” spearheaded by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, is…

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The starwars.com Forums Get A Facelift

Who better to tell you about the changes to the SW.com Forums then StarWars.com… “Fans who like to talk about everything Star Wars on our forums might noticed the brand-new redesign and features. If you haven’t been to the new Star Wars Forums, now’s a good time to start. The Forums are broken down into categories of interest such as the Movies, the Expanded Universe, Video Games, Roleplaying Games, Fan Activities and Events, and more. Collectors will enjoy our new extensive section dedicated to everything from vintage and modern toys, as well as other collectibles. Fans can chat to their hearts content about The Clone Wars in the new Star Wars on Television section. Don’t feel like talking about Star Wars? Have fun sharing comments in The Cantina section about everything from your favorite sports team to the TV shows you can’t stop raving about. Customize your forums experience with…

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Revenge of the Robot Chicken: Star Wars

Great news for fans of Star Wars parody: Robot Chicken’s third Star Wars episode will premiere December 12, with pretty-boy Zac Efron voicing Anakin. They’re trying something new this time: From the SW.com announcement: Adult Swim’s Robot Chicken returns to that galaxy far, far away for a brand-new Star Wars-themed special premiering December 12 at 11:30 p.m. (ET/PT). This third installment in the Robot Chicken: Star Wars trilogy follows the two previous specials, which resulted in multiple Emmy nominations and numerous Annie Awards for both specials, the writers, Ahmed Best for voice actor and Seth Green for directing. Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode III, to be directed by Chris McKay, marries the satirical sensibilities of Green and Matthew Senreich’s (Stoopid Monkey Productions) Emmy-winning Robot Chicken with characters of the Star Wars universe. The specials and the Robot Chicken series, the highest-rated original program on Adult Swim, are created in conjunction…

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Soccer Wars!

Welcome back to ”The Guild”! This week I’ll be paying attention to some ideas, well one idea mainly, brought to my attention by Danny Jarzebowski, a reader who contacted me. (Okay I admit it, what you are about to read is something I completely stole from DJ!) Now I know that when you read about the idea, it might seem a bit, well, insane at first, but actually it might be doable and that with success. This is basically what I talked with DJ about. (remarks in () are by the oppressor Peter) “Hey I got an intresting idea! I’d love to play soccer in SWToR, you know like battlegrounds and stuff like that but you get skills like Sprint or Pass and play with your character in game!” “I think a lot of people would enjoy that, I sure would!” At first I thought- Dude, we’re still playing the…

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Corellian Run Potcast #1

The girls over at Corellian Run Radio had their first podcast up yesterday. It’s a pretty interesting listen that I recommender you all to check out. Our first podcast is done and submitted for your perusal! It’s been a long haul from the first glorious days of let’s-do-a-show innocence to the in-the-trenches reality of forgetting to push the button when you record. It was great fun putting it together – we hope you enjoy it too. Check it out here

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R2-D2 Builders at Maker Faire

Every year robot builders, inventors, MythBusters and craftsters gather for a giant celebration of science geekery called Maker Faire. And you can’t have a robot gathering without our friends the Bay Area R2 Builders Group showing up to inspire Star Wars fans of all ages to make their own astromech sidekick. The astromechs were out in full force spinning, whirring and beeping at the crowd that constantly followed the R2 units or came to visit them in the robot area of the fair. Even amongst the other iconic robots from Lost in Space and The Forbidden Planet, and the impressive Tesla Coils, the R2 Builders were the real stars of the fair. Every time I follow around R2 and his makers around Comic-Con, WonderCon, Celebration, and Maker Faire, I love to see kids pose with, hug, kiss, pet and even have full conversations with R2-D2. He might just be the…

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AT-AT Wedding Cake!

Just when you thought that infamous Dead Tauntaun Cake was the best bit of Star Wars fandom to ever invade a wedding, here comes the toppled AT-AT wedding cake with Ewok cupcakes! This toppled AT-AT is one of my favorite cakes to date. I love the mini Admiral Ackbar and Mon Mothma but I think maybe the topper are the Ewok cupcakes that accompany this masterpiece. The bride, Rebecca Dudeiros, says that this cake wasn’t even made in a bakery. She had her buddy (a pastry chef herself though) Teresa Ulrich do it custom for her. Read more about this awesome cake here: Awesome Star Wars Wedding Cake (via BridePop.com)

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Dead Tauntaun Wedding Cake!

(501st Great Lakes Garrison troopers – Jon Leopold and Craig Provine guard the Tauntaun cake!) Look at that detail! This is so gross, yet so damn cool. If I ever get married again, I would only do it to get a frikkin’ freakierer cake than this. Like, instead of a tauntaun, it would be a giant hairless albino monkey with Ringo Starr’s face, and… and his guts would be snakes with the faces of Yoko Ono and Margaret Thatcher and Sarah Palin and Madonna, and instead of Luke it would be David Bowie wearing Princess Leia’s metal bikini. Julie and I had Courtney Clark from Cake Nouveau of Food Network Challenge (and TLC Ultimate Cake-Off) fame do our wedding cakes including a special cake request from me — Luke Skywalker stuffed inside a dead Tauntaun! It was certainly one of the talks of the wedding evening. Older relatives were a…

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Star Wars Afghanistan Stability Chart

The military encapsulates the solution to all of our problems in Afghanistan with one simple PowerPoint slide. So leave it to Jon Stewart to explain the highly confusing Afghanistan Stability Chart by dropping in a few Star Wars references. The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c Afghanistan Stability Chart www.thedailyshow.com

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May the schwartz be with you: Baroque Star Wars

Sweden-based artist Mattias Adolfsson creates Baroque–style portraits (think wigs and Steampunk gears with a cartoony twist) of Darth Vader, Chewbacca, Princess Leia, Luke Sylkwalker, C-3PO and R2-D2, a stormtrooper, and even the Death Star and the AT-AT! The Death Star Also known as the deadly croissant   Han Solo being harassed by the puritan police   Darth Vader A timeless fashion statement (you just can’t go wrong with black)   Stormtrooper Fighting in style   Imperial walker   Bobba Fett   Chewbacca Contrary to beliefs Chewbacca uses his own hair not a wig Princess Leia   C-3PO and R2 D2 R2 D2 is not as sophisticated as to warrant a wig   the Emperor   Jabba the powdered   Yoda   and Introducing as Luke Skywalker: Linnaeus the botanist supreme

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SW:TOR not planned for fiscal year 2011

During EA’s fourth-quarter earnings conference call, CEO John Riccitiello made a reference to a “major new massively multiplayer online game” — probably Star Wars: The Old Republic. “”EA is incurring significant development costs for a major new massively multiplayer online game,” he said. “”However, this game is not expected to ship in fiscal ’11.” Later, CFO Eric Brown responded directly to a question about The Old Republic, saying that “It’s not included in our FY11 release slate.”” This all but confirms that Star Wars: The Old Republic is the game referred to by Riccitiello during a similar call in January, when he gave a “major MMO” a release date of spring 2011. If it’s in the spring, but not in EA’s fiscal 2011 (which ends March 31), that means we can look forward to some Jedi fellowship sometime between April and June of next year.

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