Club Jade

TFN has transcribed comments (reported in French) made by Rick McCallum at France’s Reunion 2 convention regarding the two TV shows and saga box set.

I wonder if we can expect any official reports on this…

NEWS

• Fractal Matter interviews Rick McCallum about all the usual suspects: Red Tails, TV shows, etc.

• Antifungal drug causes visions of Chewbacca. Well, better Wookiees than, say, Cthulhu.
• Star Wars gets namedropped in Blackwater probe.
• £10,000 worth of figures stolen in UK.

EVENTS

• Cédric Delsaux’s Star Wars on Earth photographs are on exhibit in Washington D.C.

GAMING

• Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron comes out on Tuesday, and TOS has been pulling out all the stops: a two part Q&A; an introduction to Commander Col Serra and a look at his character evolution.

FANDOM

• Perennial blogger Jason Kottke asks the age-old question: What’s the best order to indoctrinate your young with Star Wars?

• University of Alabama offers BUI 301: The Gospel of Star Wars: Mass Entertainment as Postmodern Religion. Does that mean Steve Sansweet is a prophet?
• Bengal Trooper spotted!

PEOPLE

• Sean Connery sexier than Harrison Ford, says poll.

• Natalie Portman campaigns to help end global poverty; will be starring alongside Tobey Maguire and Jake Gyllenhaal in Brothers.
• Carrie Fisher to take on Mrs. Bennett in Pride And Prejudice spoof.
• Billy Dee Williams in Aretha Franklin biopic?

MERCHANDISE

• Get your Master Replicas’ products now; with their license expiring, they stop selling Star Wars stuff after December 31st.

• Check out some of the 30th Anniversary Sketch Cards.
• Complete your collection of convention exclusives with the Celebration Europe Droid 2-pack.

Hyperspace

• The latest Bantha Tracks.

• Two Newsnets: Ralltiir Blockade Impacting Sector Economy and Kira Run Opening Up to Mainstream Trade.
• One tiny fiction bit: One Step Ahead.
• And a lowdown on Delta Source.

Rick McCallum and Steve Sansweet heading to Düsseldorf for Jedi-Con 2008 next March.

So I picked up the new Insider today, and was going to write a short recap of the contents, but thankfully StarWars.com already excerpted the most interesting part – an interview with Rick McCallum where he talks about the live-action TV show. There’s also a nice (lengthy!) article on the 501st.

Sadly, not much else new – an interview with a couple of the Imperial actors and a look at Death Star pretty much rounds it out, as well as a bunch of stuff any remotely well-read or web-saavy fan already knows. In other words, pretty much par for the course.

There is a teaser for the next issue, which will be Luke and Leia-centric, featuring interviews with Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher.

Variety reports that George Lucas has hired John Ridley to write Red Tails. The film is about WWII’s Tuskegee Airmen and has often been mentioned as a future project by Lucas.

Rick McCallum is also on board as co-producer with Charles Floyd Johnson.

Lightsabre publishes the last part of their Rick McCallum interview.

TOSblog has video (warning: it’s only audio for me) of Warwick Davis interviewing Rick McCallum at Celebration Europe. Lots of TV talk, which is summarized at the link as well.

Rick McCallum received an award at the European Digital Cinema and HDTV conference in Spain, and, according to the guy who wrote TFN showed a preview of 3-D Star Wars to the crowd.

Meanwhile, Lightsabre posted the second part of their McCallum interview, including some interesting insights on George and the prequels.

Busy day in these parts

• Marc Ecko Star Wars fashions

• James Earl Jones to recite U.S. Declaration of Independence (via TOSblog)
• Celebration Europe: The Force Unleashed is going, as well as yet more guests.

Fandom

• Collector Jason Gibner featured in Metro Time Detroit’s Motor City Cribs.

• In that vein: “How To Display This Star Wars Collection (and keep the boyfriend)?” at Apartment Therapy.
• Star Wars holiday for the kids. Why not?
• Fan donates hair to play Luke Skywalker on parade float.
• 11-year-old fencer inspired by Star Wars
• 501st TIE makes debut
• Another international Star Wars convention – Poland’s Dagobah 2007

Rick McCallum will join the crowd in London, and musical fans could find themselves battling for the title of Celebration Europe Cantina Band.

Lightsabre interviews Rick McCallum about the prequels, Young Indy, and LFL. This is only the first of three parts, so stay tuned! (Thanks, Mark!)