Club Jade

The Darth Vader hot-air balloon is chilling on this side of the Atlantic for the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, and io9 has a gallery of inflation pics.

Could Obi-Wan bring peace to Iraq? Okay, that’s a little beyond the scope of this blog, but Ewan McGregor was in Basra to present an award to Staff Sgt Michelle Cunningham, a British bomb disposal expert.

Elsewhere…

• SWTV news! George Lucas interviewing writers in Los Angeles next week.

• Darth Vader hot air balloon comes to America.
• Father shows his daughter Star Wars for the first time.
• Behind the scenes with George in Chicago.
• Lynn Cheney brought John Stewart a Darth Vader figure on The Daily Show Wednesday night.

The Vader hot-air balloon from balloonist Benoît Lambert will make an appearance… And naturally, there’s a Costume Pageant, hosted by Warwick Davis.

No, it’s Darth Vader, the hot-air balloon!