Category: geek life

Time to dye those blonde bangs, ladies. Duran Duran‘s original lineup is back! Their new album Astronaut goes on sale in the US on Tuesday, October 12th.

But please. Try not to scare all the high schoolers who staff the music stores. They’re not used to women in their 30’s and 40’s acting like teenagers.

The holiday gift-giving season will be here before you know it. Here are some good gift ideas for that Star Wars fan on your list that will also help some good causes.

The Star Wars Chicks are continuing their good work in the battle against breast cancer by selling pins of their rather adorable logo wearing a pink breast cancer ribbon. All proceeds will benefit the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

Also, the marathon-running stormtrooper will be at it again. This time, he’s running the New York City Marathon in full armour. He is raising funds for the Starbright Children’s Foundation by selling t-shirts. But hurry! He’s on a time deadline.

These would make great gifts and benefit some great causes. Since we’re all going to be useless to the world when Episode 3 comes out, why not make up for it by helping it out, now!

Three things potentially worth wasting a few minutes on…

A CNN.com columnist’s essay about movie spoilers. It does contain some movie spoilers; the most recent movies spoiled are The Others and Jet Li’s Hero. So read at your own risk.

Just as Chewbacca finally got his medal, Dr. Bunson Honeydew and his assistant Beaker finally receive the accolades they deserve.

And, in the tradition of really lame online quizzes, the BBC web site offers “Buffy Dream Date: Which Character Is Your Valentine?” Mine is Willow, which I already knew, but it does presuppose she’s at least bi rather than full-up lesbian.

Yes folks… babynames.com has added a section for LOTR names. I feel really sorry for any kid who ends up being called ‘Banazir,’ ‘Fimbrethil,’ or even ‘Frodo.’ That verges on child cruelty, folks. Imagine the teasing. Please, think of the teasing.

If you have too much paper, too much time on your hands, and too much affection for the old Transformers cartoon to consider yourself entirely sane, take a look at this site:

Paperformers

It’s a site where you can download .PDF files, print them out, and cut, fold and glue the printouts to make Transformers robots. Around 50 are available, plus another dozen or so fan-created robots on a separate page.

The Universe link at the top of the page takes you to the master list of .PDFs.

Note, if you pass the URL on to anyone else, that the “P” in “Paperformers” has to be capitalized — the site is case-sensitive.

Many of us have seen the comparatively recent plush shoggoths and other cuddly companions for our favorite squid-headed elder god. Now other people are getting into the act:

http://www.entertainmentearth.com/prodinfo.asp?Number=DC73102AA

They’re so cuuuute…

I think we’re in a book lull. At least, I didn’t see anything actually new at my bookstores, this week. Maybe there’s an inventory strike? (My B&N did banish the Star Wars and Star Trek books to another row outside of SF&F. I hope it’s a sign of making more space for lots of new books!)

At any rate, here are the magazines I saw, this week:
Star Wars Insider #77 – The latest Insider finally made it onto the shelves, this week. This is the first issue under the new publisher. And it features a lovely picture of the Classic Trilogy gang on the cover. What do you think the Top 10 Classic Trilogy Moments are?

Entertainment Weekly – August 13, 2004 – Much to the Wanton’s horror, there is a big ol’ picture of Ewan and the rather odd-looking beard (aka The Woodchuck) he grew while on his Long Way Round adventure. There is, however, a rather amusing article on the great battles of sci-fi. ESB versus ST:Wrath of Khan.

Film Review – Special #52, aka The Spider Man Special – No surprise, this one’s devoted to Spider Man. However, there is also a look at all of this summer’s blockbusters. (Or, at least, those who want to be blockbusters.) And there’s also a review of the top 10 films of all time, boxoffice-wise. It’s current as of two months ago.

US Weekly – August 16, 2004 – Oh, look! It’s The Woodchuck, again. However, they make up for it by giving us a really cute picture of Orlando Bloom on the set of his new movie. (Wanton’s are stalking Elizabethtown as we speak. PG…get the bail money ready!)

Until next time, intrepid bookstore stalkers!

Warm up those credit cards. There’s a benefit auction heading our way and it’s rumored to be a good one.

The Actor’s Fund of America is holding an auction of “celebrity experiences and memorabilia.”

The teases aren’t going to post anything until August 10th. But one should plan ahead for these things.

As Star Wars fans, we really have no right to complain about merchandising. But an Arwen’s pendant navel ring? That might just be going a bit too far.

Somehow, I appear to have picked up the Harry Potter beat, since Dunc always seems to scoop me on the Star Wars news.

Those of you who have yet to visit JK Rowling’s Official Website are missing out on a cultural phenomenon!

In just eight weeks, the site has received 220 million hits; including one from the Vatican.

It is a really great site to play in. Plenty of easter eggs for the determined. And learn now how to find the door, as this is where upcoming scoopage on the next book will be hidden.

Enjoy!