Cut and Paste

On May 25th, 2007, I was on vacation in Hyannis, Massachusetts with my family and we were surprised to see Darth Vader and a stormtrooper outside the post office on the main street. It was, of course, the 30th anniversary of the release of Star Wars and the release date for the Star Wars postage stamps. (The photo in my profile was taken that day!) We went in and bought some that day.

Now that a year has gone by and postage has gone up, we're going to see less and less of the Star Wars stamps, which is a little sad. I just used the last stamp on the sheet a few weeks ago and it seemed a shame to throw away the background image sheet. So, I cut out the few pictures that remained and gave the DIY stickers to my three and a half year old daughter to make a Star Wars collage and the results are below.

The black ink shape in the lower left is Darth Vader. She also put the letter D close to Vader. I asked her if the D was for Darth Vader and she said it was a D for Dada because she was making the picture for me. I'm the red ink figure just below Darth Vader. She put me in there because I, as she said, "love Star Wars". The little red guy in the extreme lower left is Obi-Wan Kenobi holding a lightsaber and the green crayon figure on the left side about halfway up is a stormtrooper. I asker her what the red ink lines were in the center and she said they were "crazy squiggles". I should have known! She also put a red circle sticker in the center to finish it off. The circle is now complete. Or, the circle now completes it, or something like that... Anyway, my kid made a Star Wars picture! I'm so proud!

31 Years

Today is May 25th, which is the 31st anniversary of the release of the original Star Wars. It's also "Universal Day of the Jedi".

Before the Galaxy Far, Far Away: Influences on ‘Star Wars’

There is a great piece over at Cineleet.com on the influences that helped make Star Wars. (Found via The Corner.)

Drunk Driving Public Service Announcement from 1979

This is fun.

Lucas: No post-Vader flicks

Over at the LA Times, George Lucas is quoted as saying the strories he wanted to tell ended with Darth Vader.

Thanks to CGI animation, the "Star Wars" saga is coming back to theaters this summer -- but George Lucas said fans shouldn't get their hopes up about any future films that take the epic beyond the point of Darth Vader's death at the end of "Return of the Jedi."

In other words, it ends with the Ewoks.

"Whatever it is that happens afterward," the 63-year-old filmmaker said, "that isn't the core 'Star Wars' story that I like to tell."

Mom Wars

My wife read me a fun Star Wars article from Wondertime magazine on our road trip to Las Vegas. It's by a Alice Bradley, a mom-blogger from New Jersey:

In the living room, my husband and son are killing each other. "Zat!" cries Henry. "Zat zat zat! I got you with my lightsaber!" "But I am your faaather..." Scott gasps, clutching his stomach. It's too late. Henry, 5, has gone over to the dark side. There's a lot of killing going on in our house. Most of the carnage occurs on Saturday mornings, although occasionally there's time for a duel or two before school. This can be problematic, since once Henry has his dad's attention, he doesn't want to let go. "But we haven't played at aaaall," Henry will moan, even after they've been whapping at each other for the past hour. It's never enough for Henry — if he could play Star Wars with his dad every minute of the day, he would. He recently told me his idea of the Best Weekend Ever: "Dad and I would play Star Wars," he said, "for two days without stopping. We would go to sleep and wake up and still be playing Star Wars." "That does sound great," I said. I pictured Henry nudging Scott awake with his lightsaber at 6 a.m., his Darth Vader mask affixed to his face. "We meet again," he would intone, while Scott whimpered. Maybe I could go away for the weekend while the boys enjoy their quality time? This might be the Best Weekend Ever for me too...

Expanded Universe Photo Gallery

The LA Times has a neat new Expanded Universe photo gallery. Check it out.

Star Wars logo, Wal-Mart style

Low prices will be with you. Always.

Click on the picture for a larger version.

Boba Fett-ish

Way back in 1980, Military Modeler magazine, which normally ran articles on 1/35 scale dioramas of World War II German tanks and the like, did a neat little feature on a modified Boba Fett action figure. Because there wasn’t much known about Boba Fett at the time, the modeler assumed there were other Fetts and made up “Deta Fett” so he could take some liberties with the model. I must have read that article ten times in my older brother’s copy of the magazine, which was lost, tossed or sold long ago. Thankfully, Erikstormtrooper.com has kept a record this proto-mod. Check it out here.