Star Wars with occasional sarcasm
We’re poised to enter blockbuster season Friday with the release of X-Men Origins: Wolverine on Friday, but which big summer movies are you most looking forward to? Vote on the sidebar or under the cut. Continue reading “Poll: Spring/Summer movies race to the finish”
UPDATE: Bioware has lifted the topic ban and Dahlberg has apologized. And Penny Arcade weighs in.
So, the latest kerfuffle in the saga of gays in Star Wars comes out of Bioware’s forums, where community manager Sean Dahlberg shut down a discussion of possible gay and lesbian relationships in The Old Republic with the phrase:
As I have stated before, these are terms that do not exist in Star Wars.
Thread closed.
Well, as any crazy obsessed EU fan will tell you… He’s half right. In recent years, Star Wars has played host to a single gay couple – Goran Beviin and Medrit Vasur in Legacy of the Force: Sacrifice – but they’re fairly easy to overlook if your eyes glaze over at the very mention of Mandalorians. And the terminology ‘gay’ or ‘homosexual’ is never used: One point for Dahlberg. They’re just there, without comment, just like any other couple. (Which is as it should be, IMO.) Though as subtle as it was, the inclusion still proved controversial in the fandom.
Of course, the real issue here: Will this message board mishap continue to get play in the blogs? Will that prompt Lucasfilm to finally up and address the issue of homosexuality in the GFFA? It’s not going to be a fun time for the message board moderators either way.
Rebelscum has discovered… somehow… what they say is a Fate of the Jedi eBook tie-in: Lost Tribe of the Sith 1: Precipice by Knights of the Old Republic’s John Jackson Miller. Looks like a duck, quacks like a duck and I doubt they made it up out of whole cloth. Hopefully this means we’ll get official info very soon.
Andrew Wheeler has made a habit of rounding up genre bestsellers from Publishers Weekly’s list, and if you separate out the Star Wars stuff, an interesting trend emerges:
In Adult Hardcovers:
And in New Children’s paperback:
In short, The Clone Wars kids books sold significantly more copies than the adult books. Behold, the power of a theatrical release…
Interesting, if rather sad factoid: Stephenie Meyer outsells everyone. No, seriously. But then, in a year where Dean Koontz outsells Stephen King, can we really be surprised?
Yahoo will be closing down GeoCities later this year, and I’d like to ask for a moment of silence.
No, really.
It may be hard to fathom now, but back a decade or so ago, when this here internet was still shiny and new, the free web space that GeoCities was as important to fandom as… Well, blogs and forums and wikis and Livejournal are now. It was the place where people were driven by their passion for whatever random bit of… whatever… made sites dedicated to their foci. Sure, it looks goofy now. (To quote Heidi MacDonald: “If you want to see the Web as it existed ten years ago just find any webpage hosted on GeoCities.”) It’s certainly not where fandom – even internet fandom – began, but it’s an important touchstone. And soon it’ll be gone.
Here are a few sites where you can get a feel for the internets of fandom past:
At least we’ll always have the Wayback Archive – not that anyone can actually remember those giant 90’s URLs.
Scour your bookmarks (or take offerings to Google) and drop your old favorites in the comments. (Basic HTML works.)
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Lots of booty for comic fans Wednesday with Legacy #35, Star Wars Adventures: Han Solo and the Hollow Moon of Khorya, and the sixth Knights of the Old Republic collection, Vindication.
And don’t forget that this Saturday is Free Comic Book Day, and you’ll be able to pick up a Clone Wars story, among others. Also, Henry Gilroy, John Jackson Miller, Ramón Pérez, and Matt and Shawn Fillbach are among the Dark Horse folks doing signings.
10 years ago this week, the first official Star Wars convention was held in Denver as a prelude to The Phantom Menace. StarWars.com is devoting the week to coverage, and I found a small set of pictures from Paxton Holley on Flickr.
I believe a grand total of 3 CJers attended: I was not among them. (Hell, I barely remember seeing the actual movie.) I do recall the predominant tone of the internet reports were lines and mud – not really all that different from the later events. (Minus the mud.) And that there was some sort of Jar Jar dance party. (?)
Did you go? Do you remember? Someone has to.
The Darth Vader garter was the Star Wars hit of #estyday on Twitter. Who knew? [Darth Vader Garter by Kizette, $22.50.]
It’s a bit pricey, but this bracelet is my favorite #etsyday find. [Star Wars Charm Bracelet by Artista Muerta, $48.]
There are an awful lot of t-shirts on Etsy, but I found this one rather charming. [Graf Vader by Workplay, $15.]
No Etsy roundup is complete without a bag! [Flowers for Alderaan Purse by DAME Creations, $22.]