Club Jade

Every time I see someone use the term ‘Jedis,’ I sigh.

Maybe it’s petty, but few things drive me battier than glaring Star Wars typos, particularly when they come from professional and semi-professional news outlets. Here are a few Star Wars terms and spellings every fan (and entertainment journalist) ought to know and use correctly in the years ahead.

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Lightsabre’s latest interview is with Skywalker Sound’s David Acord, who has worked on Attack of the Clones, Revenge of the Sith and now The Clone Wars.

Per usual, not too much for genre fans to get excited about. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, which I suppose could classify as fantasy, sort of, had the most nods this year, including Best Picture and Actor. Heath Ledger is up for Best Supporting Actor for The Dark Knight, but the movie failed to get any other major nominations. It is up for the usual throw-them-a-bone categories of Cinematography, Film Editing, Makeup, Sound Editing, and Sound Mixing.

Wall-E did pretty good – it failed to get a Best Picture nod as many were hoping for, but it is up for Animated Film (duh,) Original Screenplay, Original Song, and several technical awards.

The Visual Effects category puts Benjamin Button up against The Dark Knight and ILM’s Iron Man.

UPDATE: StarWars.com has a full listing of all ILM and Skywalker Sound Oscar nominations, as well as BAFTA and VES nods.

The Maker talks about his television endeavours and what to expect from the new series. Also at MTV, Dave Filoni on swapping the opening crawl for a newsreel style opener.

• The Skywalker Ranch press event report at Cinema Blend. (Poor George!)

• Filoni speaks to IFMagazine.
• Matthew Wood turns io9′s Annalee Newitz into a droid.
• KansasCity.com with Yoda voice actor Tom Kane.
• Design at the official site.

• Leia abandons Padme and Chewie! Luckily, zookeepers stepped in to save the pair of critically endangered tamarin monkeys babies.

• Geek Gestalt celebrates ILM and Skywalker Sound’s Oscar noms, while StarWars.com has quotes and the complete lineup.
• Homeland Security channels the Death Star with a military grade throwable digital camera.
• Cleveland firm restores stained glass at Skywalker Ranch.

• Interview: Christopher Lee talks about his roles in Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, and The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones.

• Star Wars brought Chris Scarabosio to Skywalker Sound.
• Lucasfilm hires former Apple executive Richard Kerris as chief technology officer.
• More Star Wars namesakes: Alpacas Princess Leia and Luke Skywalker.
• Crave reviews Legacy #18 and Knights of the Old Republic #24.

Industrial Light & Magic and Skywalker Sound servicing more than just the big budgets – both post-production firms are becoming more available to ‘smaller’ films.

Cnet’s Daniel Terdiman gets to visit the Ranch for a behind-the-scenes look at Skywalker Sound. (Copy editing quirk: Han Solo has a lightsaber?)

Last but by no means least: Lucasfilm Animation Singapore is starting up the Jedi Master Program – a paid apprenticeship for computer graphics artists. Sounds like an amazing opportunity – the competition to get in is sure to be fierce!

The San Francisco Chronicle reported issues with union workers at Skywalker Sound and ILM in Thursday’s paper. That day, LFL filed an unfair labor complaint against the union.