Star Wars with occasional sarcasm
But fired men do.
Los Angeles Magazine has a great feature on a former Jack Sparrow’s account of working at Disneyland. It’s a really interesting read, addressing everything from the audition process, to Disney “cleaning up” Jack Sparrow, to the fabled Magic Kingdom fascism towards their employees. Welcome to the regime-iest place on Earth!
Weezer’s latest video features a ton of Youtube stars, including a lot of lightsabers. Whoo! (via)
Myth Adventures author (and filker) Robert Asprin passed away yesterday at his home in New Orleans.
There are plenty of remembrances for him online, including at Boing Boing and MetaFilter.
Yet more brand new fiction for Hyperspace members! The latest selection is Lando Calrissian: Idiot’s Array, set pre-ESB, by Rich Handley.
Which old-schooler will be next? Dare we guess?
StarWars.com updates today with the official announcement of Ryder Windham’s Obi-Wan bio (spotted on Amazon in March) which is titled Star Wars: The Life and Legend of Obi-Wan Kenobi and sports some nifty Hugh Fleming cover art.
Meanwhile, for the post-ROTJ fans, a hefty blurb for the highly-anticipated Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor.
Reuters is reporting that, perhaps unsurprisingly, the new Indiana Jones movie has annoyed members of Russia’s Communist Party.
“Our women don’t look like Nazis, but maybe Cate Blanchett was threatened by unemployment, so … she made this film,” says one. Adds another: “Harrison Ford and Cate Blanchett (are) second-rate actors, serving as the running dogs of the CIA. We need to deprive these people of the right of entering the country.”
Honestly, you just can’t win these days when trying to pick cartoonish villains for your George Lucas movie.
The season finale of a hit network medical drama/soap opera is probably the last place one would expect an Expanded Universe reference, but last night on Grey’s Anatomy, it seems Dr. Bailey (the only character on the show I have never wanted to smack upside the head) came through with this:
“Han Solo is not a loser. Han Solo got encased in carbonite and that was a big mess, but that’s not what he’s remembered for. He’s remembered as the guy who made the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs, and who braved the sub-zero temperatures of the ice planet Hoth in order to save someone he cared about from the big ugly wampa. He’s remembered as the guy who swooped down at the last minute, blasted Darth Vader out of the sky, so that Luke could use the Force and, and destroy the damn Death Star. Okay? Princess Leia saved him from the carbonite, and they fell in love, and they saved the universe, and had twin Jedi babies that went on to save the universe again.”
UPDATE: That’s the real quote. Grey’s Anatomy screenwriters, we salute you. (And big thanks to Horsey as well!)
The finale (‘Freedom’) reruns Friday night on ABC, or you can watch it online. The scene starts at 27:25 in the first part of the two-parter.
UPDATE 2: You want video? io9 has video.
Plenty of fans are pretty hip to this already, but Greg Davies’s post on the cinematic influences behind Star Wars is a nice overview – and comes complete with Youtube clips for comparison.
A Costa Rican betting site took odds on the identity of Battlestar Galactica‘s final unrevealed Cylon. The best odds look to be on Anastasia Dualla, but I remain skeptical.
Of course, I am still pulling for the reveal to be the triumphant return of Billy, so I’m probably not to be trusted on such things.