Club Jade

Yippee-ki-yay. Star Wars is SpaceWestern.com’s #1 most influential space western. Please spare us all the argument about how it’s totally not a space western; It’s an amalgam, silly. (Also, while I don’t think anyone can deny Firefly, isn’t it a bit early to rank it quite so high on a list that’s supposed to be about influence? Far as I can tell, the only thing that it’s inspired so far is a funny clip of Castle and Fox renewing Dollhouse.)

Art or something like it. io9 collects the greatest velvet paintings of science fiction. (As Wookieepedia is to Cracked, Google Image Search is to io9.) Giant Samurai Vader was a big hit on Twitter, and the official site gives us another peek at Visions featuring some of Club Jade’s favorite things (non-alcoholic division.) Dude, we get it: It’s a Star Wars fine art book, right? Enough teasing already.

Contain your shock. Darth Vader is Lawful Evil. No!

Baked-good corner. Two extremely well-made Star Wars cakes – Jabba and Darth Maul – from L.A.’s Rosebud Cakes. For the 30-year-old child party moll in all of us. As for something we can all achieve, take a cue from the sarlacc bundt cake.

Collecting. The ten most embarrassingly collectible Star Wars toys of the 90′s. Why didn’t I sell my Special Edition Luke when it was actually worth something? WHY?

At random. Power Droid gots to get his money.

It’s May, so of course the Dream Book is out, because nothing says spring like planning out your Christmas tree. This year’s Star Wars selections are include The Phantom Menace duel (above,) Han in Stormtrooper gear, Luke’s landspeeder, and a Clone Wars twofer of Anakin and Ahsoka.

Also of interest: Indiana Jones, Star Trek, Harry Potter, Ghostbusters and my personal grinchy favorite, the Wicked Witch of the West.

(Thanks, Rach!)

Whatever happened to the collector from Dr. Phil whose wife tried to shame him into ditching his Star Wars stuff? The Springfield News-Sun follows up. They’re still married, he still has his collection, but he did go on a diet. Score?

• Lists: Topless Robot has five reasons Luke Skywalker is a complete idiot. Way harsh, Tai.

• Cake: Great White Snark found a great Darth Maul.
• Blog: ICANHASFORCE. Yes, it’s exactly what you’d expect.

Check out ‘The Prototype’ and two other Star Wars pieces from illustrator Benjamin Carre at ConceptArt.org.

Science Fiction Weekly reviews out Sideshow’s 12″ Luke Skywalker. Sounds pretty cool, though he still looks more dead-eyed than haunted to me. They also review the Premium Format Vader and Han.

Collectors might note that the pre-order for the 12″ Darth Maul has just started.

Okay, so it’s not our usual genre, but the Law and Order Valentines have been making the rounds and they’re too damn funny not to link. (via Boing Boing)

The artist, Brandon Bird, also has some fun Star Wars stuff: Masters of the Force, Fluttermaul, Man of Tomorrow and an awesome Ewok poster. Check out brandonbird.com for more fun pop-culture artwork.