Not just a misspelling any more

Name of newborn Norwegian princess inspired by Star Wars:

“I must admit that I have always been a big ‘Star Wars’ fan, and Princess Leia has always been the most beautiful in the whole world,” Princess Martha Louise said in an interview with the Norwegian daily Aftenposten.

Princess Leah, born on April 8 this year and fifth in line to the Norwegian throne, was due to be baptised on Thursday.

Spackle for the spackle-meisters

Finally… someone who understands us! Todd Seavey has written a brilliant (and hilarious) article on the need of sci-fi geeks to spackle our universe(s).

For example:

Yet sometimes the editors and writers responsible for such series barely care about maintaining continuity, so busy are they with more mundane tasks such as writing entertaining dialogue and coming up with interesting new characters. That is why such universes desperately need the obsessive, crank-like fan, the fan willing to concoct rationalizations that make sense of the apparent continuity errors. Indeed, without such fans, I question whether the continuity of these universes could be maintained at all. The fate of entire fictional worlds, the very cohesion of the space-time continuum, hinges on the selfless efforts of fans like myself to keep track of what the hell is going on and explain the slip-ups by the so-called “professionals!”

And:

If Scotty witnesses Captain Kirk’s death at the beginning of Star Trek VII, it is extremely troubling to some of us—those who care, those who have intellectual integrity and the discipline of logic!—if Scotty is awakened from suspended animation approximately seventy years later in an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation and asks whether Captain Kirk is still alive. Scotty should know that Kirk isn’t! Something is wrong! It doesn’t add up—yet it must! It must!

There is also some wonderful stuff about Star Wars. Go read. What are you waiting for? Todd Seavey, we salute you!

Thanks to Michelle for the head’s up on this gem!

Confessions of a fangirl

Our own Susan has an article about being a female fan. Plenty of CJer quotes and references. Witness:

If I told the truth, I reasoned, people would think I was crazy. When I did tell, I’d have to endure a bemused, somewhat patronizing reaction. Eyebrows are raised. Weird glances follow. Since I started this story, my coworkers take joy in making fun of me.

What’s interesting, of course, is that other, equally bizarre hobbies are considered legitimate. As my friend Shelba put it, “I don’t understand why it is OK that people who paint their faces blue, or red, or green polka dots to cheer on a sports team are just enthusiastic, but we’re weird.”

Golfers play all weekend and decorate their house with golf-themed pillows. There are avid genealogists and Civil War buffs, birdwatchers and Phish fans. But say you’re into Star Wars, and people think you are out of touch with reality.

Read it you will!

ETA: Susan’s article gets linked at TFN for the masses! Awesome!