Of course, after that mocking last month, it’s Clone Wars themed. And French. Oh, Lucasfilm.
Hey man, nice shot: Han Solo on EW’s ‘cool’ list
Entertainment Weekly has placed Han Solo at #7 on their list of the 20 all-time coolest heroes in pop culture. And he’s not even the only Harrison Ford character on it; Indiana Jones makes #2, beat out only by James Bond. The ladies are no slouches, either: Ellen Ripley is #5 and Buffy is #8, with Foxy Brown, Nancy Drew, and Sydney Bristow also making appearances.
UPDATE: Jezebel is annoyed that there weren’t more women on the list. Can’t really blame them there!
Miller’s Wild Space and Rollin’s Crystal Skull novelization up for tie-in awards
The International Association of Media Tie-In Writers has announced their nominees for the 2009 Scribe Awards, and two Lucasfilm works are on it. Karen Miller’s The Clone Wars: Wild Space got a nod for Best Speculative Fiction Adapted, while James Rollins’ adaption of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is up for Best General Fiction Adapted. Miller is “massively chuffed!”
This is the first Scribe nomination for any Star Wars (or Indy, though that pool is considerably smaller) work, though Alan Dean Foster was named last year’s Grandmaster.
Twilight infringer backs off, sort of
With fandom buzzing and several professionals weighing in, Lady Sybilla and her ‘publisher,’ AV Paranormal, are backing off on selling her Twilight fanfic, Russet Noon. But she’s not going to take it laying down!
Swarming with self-righteous judgments and slander galore, some of these postings have gone as far as to threaten Lady Sybilla and her team with everything from boycotting the novel, reporting it to web administrators, and even stalking the addresses listed under Whois registrar entries.
Slander is a term used for defamatory speech. The term she’s actually looking for is libel. But wait, there’s more:
Blown out of proportion falls short of describing the overzealous crusade that has given these teens “a common enemy,” as one of them has called it. Some of these volunteer soldiers are so militant about their cause, that eBay buyers appear to have been contacted one by one in an attempt to persuade them to request refunds on their Russet Noon preorders.
Now we all know that sometimes fandom will get a bit… overzealous in reaction to people trying to publish fan fiction of copyrighted works. Some of it might even qualify as libel, though most of what I’ve seen is simple boggling at her ignorance. But that is the absolute most minor reason not to do it. In short? Lady, if you don’t want people saying mean things about you when you do something stupid on the internet, maybe you should stop fanning the flames.
A recent theory, however, could mean her behavior isn’t born out of arrogance and ignorance, but instead something even less savory. Could Lady Sybilla have manufactured this situation simply to get more views on her site and cash via Amazon affiliate links? If so, she wouldn’t be first in fandom to attempt to (fandom_)wank her way to profit, but perhaps the most successful to date…
Once again, a huge tip of the hat to Caito and the folks at Fandom Wank.
New clips from Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings for Wii
The long awaited Indiana Jones video game, Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings has a little more unearthed this week, with this video featurette on starwars.com with the developers showing how using your Wiimote will do all the things Indy does – punching, flying, shooting, swatting creepy crawlies and cracking that whip. So how will that translate for the non-Wii versions (PS2, PSP, DS)?
Cad Bane takes The Clone Wars viewers and reviewers hostage
Last week’s The Clone Wars season finale ‘Hostage Crisis’ brought in the viewers – Cartoon Network posted a viewership of 3.3 million (more than the 2.4 million brought in by the Battlestar Galactica finale), its best performance since the premiere, according to USA Today’s Nielsen’s roundup. Here’s what the reviewers are saying:
- io9 was pleased with “a surprising new-found maturity in the writing.”
- SW Clone Wars Reviews liked showing the Anakin / Padme dynamic as an important part of the saga but knocked the episode for bringing back Ziro the Hutt.
- Big Shiny Robot says that ‘Hostage Crisis’ stole the crown for favorite episode over ‘Duel of the Droids’, calling it downright spectacular.”
- IGN gave plus points for Cad Bane and Aurra Sing, minus points for Ziro the Hutt, and thought “The idea of Anakin doing his best John McClane impression, as he attempted to free Padme, Bail Organa and other captured prisoners … was fun.”
- Dauntless Media gives it a B for some plausibility concerns over the ability to storm the Senate, but likes seeing Anakin and Padme interact.
- LazyPadawan points out that with Anakin and Padme, a lightsaber is sometimes more than a lightsaber and says “What’s there not to love in this episode?”
And if you missed the Club Jade review of ‘Hostage Crisis’, you can read and comment on it here.
Got a couple thousand bucks laying around? Why not buy back your childhood?
Yes ladies and gentlemen, for a mere $3,500, a complete set of original trilogy Kenner figures could be yours. Or, you could spend it on something legitimately cool. (Personally, I’d go for a really sweet Mac. And maybe a print of the Kenners.) Your choice. (via)
Bohnhoff hits the books for Holostar
Upcoming author Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff has posted the third entry in A Padawan’s Journal.
The fandom minute: Ponies, Artoo, and Jar Jar make one hell of a party
- OMG PONIES! Mari Kasurinen has added three new Star Wars figures to her custom My Little Pony gallery: A farmboy Luke, slave Leia, and Han in carbonite.
- Technology: An impressive Artoo casemod made with a trash can and a mere $120 in additional parts.
- Crafts: The Darth Vader hula girl. I always knew he had it in him.
- The blogside: Bryan Young defends Jar Jar Binks over at Den of Geek. (via)
Fanboys just keeps expanding
Another seven cities are adding this weekend, and things are looking good for international releases as well.