Blast-offs and could-have-beens.Star Wars producer Gary Kurtz writes in The Guardian’s film blog talks about the devotion the film inspired. Elsewhere on the site, Danny Leigh wonders what if Star Wars never existed?
A sandcrawler for Singpore. Remember the sandcrawler building that Lucasfilm was planning for their folks in Singapore? They announced details of the project last week.
Science, defense division. The U.S. Navy has made a significant leap forward in testing offensive lasers. A “solid-state, high-energy laser beam” successfully disabled a small vessel off the coast of California. There’s video!
I’m no lawyer, but the appearance of the laser is pretty blatantly inspired by its fictional forbearer. And anything that might keep “the most dangerous laser ever created” out of the hands of stupid geeks is fine by me.
The Star Wars kid is all grown up. Ghyslain Raza, who rose to unwilling internet fame as the subject of one of the internet’s first and most famous viral videos, hasn’t done too badly for himself. He’s pursuing a law degree (perhaps inspired by the lawsuit that he filed against the classmates who uploaded the infamous video?) and is the president of a conservation society in his hometown of Trois-Rivières.
Wedding bells.Harrison Ford and Calista Flockhart got hitched Tuesday! The pair made it legal in New Mexico, where Ford is shooting Cowboys and Aliens. New Mexico governor Bill Richardson, a friend of the couple, performed the wedding at the Governor’s Mansion in Santa Fe.
…And not so much. In less happy news, Hayden Christensen and Rachel Bilson, who also got engaged in 2009, are “taking a break.”
Don’t try this at home. No, seriously, don’t. A company in Hong Kong is selling a laser “home theater projector” that resembles a lightsaber and is strong enough to burn skin and cause “irreversable retinal damage.” It can be purchased online for a mere $200. What could go wrong?
On Wednesday, Stephen Colbert celebrated America’s latest scientific development: A super laser that can “focus 192 laser beams on a small point, generating temperatures and pressures that exist at cores of stars or giant planets.” Sound familiar? See The Colbert Report clip beneath the cut. (more…)
The TIE fighter model in the Profiles in History auction is expected to fetch up to £100,000, the highest-priced (or, well, estimated) item in the collection. That’s about about $200,000 American. Gotta love the exchange rate… The Crusade Grail is only expected to go for about £12,500, or $25,000.
Exhibits: The St. Paul run of ‘Where Science Meets Imagination’ draws in 100,000 visitors within 32 days.
Club Jade is a group of (mostly) female fans who love Star Wars - particularly the Expanded Universe novels - and other things of that nature. You can also follow us on Twitter, Tumblr or Facebook!
Not so fast… Michael Koehler wants to build a life-size, working AT-AT. His project quickly got (l)ink from Cnet and the New York Daily News. A mention on Attack of the Show certainly didn’t hurt his cause… But it looks like it’s not exactly kosher with Lucasfilm. At least Koehler can solace in techies saying the feat is not impossible.
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The TIE fighter model in the 
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