Tag: book

How Do You Celebrate May the 4th?

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“May the 4th be with you.”

Say it out loud once or twice and you’ll either get it, or Star Wars is not really a big influence in your life.  If you’re like me, May the 4th is way more exciting than the other second tier holidays.

Sweetest day?  Presidents Day?  Earth Day?  International Talk Like a Pirate Day?  I’d rank May the 4th way above these… in fact, I’d put it in the realm of Valentine’s Day and St. Patrick’s Day.  You don’t get work off, but you celebrate with something a little cheesy, fun, or crazy.

So, HOW do you celebrate May the 4th?  I have some suggestions.  I’m probably going to do nearly all of them, but you can pick and choose.  If you really wanted to go all out, it could be like Christmas, Halloween, Valentine’s Day, and Memorial Day all rolled into one.  Dress up, give gifts, smooch a cute girl in a Twi’lek costume and remember those Star Wars people and things we have lost over the last year.  RIP Clone Wars and Lucasarts 🙁

  1. Quote Star Wars lines to anyone and everyone who will listen.  They are applicable in all situations.  Someone says they’ll try to make it to your Star Wars party?  “Do or do not, there is no try.”  Someone calls you an idiot?  “I find your lack of faith disturbing.”  They get angry?  “I can feel your anger.  It gives you focus, makes you stronger.”  *you may want to duck at some point.
  2. Send Star Wars e-cards, memes, and tweets.  Quotes are good for this as well. www.starwars.com/ecards has even done some work for you, or you can always google it.
  3. Change your facebook picture to your favorite Star Wars character.  If you have photoshop skills this becomes even more fun.  While you’re at it, photoshop all your friends into Star Wars characters… they’ll thank you later.
  4. Lots of places have Star Wars related festivities.  Check your local libraries, restaurants, bars, comic book stores, etc.  I’m going to Star Wars Trivia at a local pizza place; Empire Pizza… you should not be surprised at this name.
  5. Check with your area 501st garrison.  I’m lucky enough to have one in my area.  Shout out to the Carolina Garrison!  If they aren’t doing something in your area… MOVE!
  6. Throw a party and serve Wookiee cookies, blue milk, or any creation you can come up with.  Cake is always good.  Other suggestions you say? Tie fritters?  Boba Fettucine?  Pizza the Hutt?  Why am I doing all the work?
  7. Watch the Star Wars movies for the 124th time.  If you don’t have all day, just watch this and this one too (PG-13).
  8. Finally, due to the alignment of the planets, May the 4th is also FREE COMIC BOOK DAY!  Go to your local comic book store and buy something.  Anything.  Support these hard working people or when you really need them they may not be there for you.

In all seriousness… go buy a comic and be a kid for the day.

Leave your thoughts and how you plan on celebrating in the comments section.

 

~kknight – is a lifelong Star Wars fanatic that is incredibly excited to be working with T-bone.  May the 4th be with you all!

Book Review: In A Galaxy Not So Far Away… The Star Wars Filming Locations of the United States

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Back in 1999, Lucasfilm decided it was time to explore yet another money-making venture – the official convention. The hype surrounding the first Star Wars Prequel was at a fever pitch and fans all over the world were reveling in it all. Fansite traffic was through the roof and I met a lot of people simply by having this website up and running.

One of those people was a guy named Adam Parr. We stayed in touch, with the internet making it very easy to do so. Another of these guys was Carl Cunningham. I know Carl a little better because we’ve met numerous times and collaborated a little more on website efforts and so on. John Klinger was yet another guy I met with, but only a few times and usually he was there with Carl at conventions.  So the planets aligned and these three personalities decided they were going to write a book, and write one they did! It’s called: In a Galaxy Not So Far Away… The Star Wars Filming Locations of the United States.

Being avid fans and big collectors of merchandise, it was only natural that these guys would put their heads together and come up with a book that’s a virtual road map to the Star Wars filming locations here in the USA.

You may have seen articles before (not to mention tons of photos) from places like Death Valley or Yuma, where they filmed a lot of the Tatooine footage. But let’s say you wanted to take a Star Wars themed vacation or make a Star Wars-style pilgrimage of sorts. How much research would you have to do to find all the filming locations? How would you know what to bring or when it’s best to go?

This book tells you everything you need to know and more. Inside you’ll find background information on every location, checklists of what you should know and bring with you, exact directions to each specific location with maps, weather information, and lots of photos. You’ll also get great comparison photos of the actual film frames compared to the authors’ pictures taken years later. You’ll be surprised at how similar they still look.

Like the back jacket says, this is a book you can actually use as a guide and it covers places you can actually visit, even on a modest budget. The tips and personal experiences from the locations are all icing on the cake.

Reading through, you can tell that Adam and the boys have put their hearts into this guide, leaving no stone unturned. This was truly a labor of love and it should be on any fan’s bookshelf. It could not have been an easy feat to compile all this information.

I’m really proud that my friends have put this together and hope you’ll find time to grab yourself a copy and perhaps take a little Star Wars road trip yourself.

You can get your copy at AMAZON.COM

 

P.S. Rumor has it that there’s more to come from this crew… so make sure you follow them, fan them, and all that jazz. You can find them at http://starwarsroadtrips.com/
Enjoy!

Review: Revenge of the Sith Novelization

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It’s become clear that Star Wars has almost become a genre unto itself. There’s drama, romance, sci-fi, horror, fantasy, non-fiction—and then there’s Star Wars. It’s hard to just drop it under Sci-Fi because it’s more of a dramatic space opera than a futuristic fantasy book. That said, the Star Wars brand demands its own classification and one has to embrace a certain stylistic approach to write within that universe. This approach was created by George Lucas but ultimately expanded to include outside influences. All these styles combined make up this Star Wars genre and Matthew Stover’s adaptation of Revenge of the Sith quite handsomely takes them all and puts forth a cohesive and compelling novel which bridges many gaps in the saga’s timelines.

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Labyrinth of Evil by James Luceno

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I’m not a huge follower of the Star Wars Expanded Universe, which consists largely of printed publications. Very few Star Wars stories that were not concocted by George Lucas himself pique my interest anymore. I liked a few in the beginning, like Tim Zahn’s first trilogy and a few others, but it takes something a bit more epic to make me me to go out and buy a Star Wars book these days. A book that directly leads into one of the films would be a good example, and that’s what Labyrinth of Evil is—so I picked it up.

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