Star Wars with occasional sarcasm
The third set of art prints for Celebration VI is small (only 5!) but it does contain some familiar names like Dave Dorman (above,) Steve Anderson and Ken Lashley, who was responsible for the Star Wars Passat at last year’s SDCC.
In other art news, the tattoos will be back!
Guests. Chalk artist Eric Maruscak is returning for Celebration VI. Maruscak did a Clone Wars mural at Celebration V which (eventually) revealed Savage Opress.
Trivia. Spike will be marathoning the Star Wars movies for the 4th of July holiday (of course) and commercial breaks will bring a Celebration VI trivia challenge called (of course) ‘Force of July’. There’s a chance to win prize packs and tickets to Celebration. (via)
Off-campus. 521 Ministries and Geek Out Loud are sponsoring ‘A Celebration of Worship’ Sunday morning during Celebration at the Rosen Plaza hotel next to the convention center. Voice actor James Arnold Taylor will be attending.
Still not sure if you can make it? Geekdad is giving away passes!
Convention swag. Star Wars Books has revealed some of the summer freebies on their Facebook. There’s a nifty 84-page sample books with excerpts and the Insider short stories, a Mercy Kill iron-on and Scoundrels bookmarks. The catch: There are 7, but they won’t all be available at the same con, so unless you’re going to be at SDCC, CVI and NYCC, prepare to swap with some pals to get them all.
In other relevant con season news, Christie Golden will be at SDCC, and Erich is looking to arrange a Warfare signing with Jason Fry and some of the artists.
The blogside. Skuldren wants a Streen series, while Bry Dean reviews I, Jedi and Tosche Station looks back at The Bacta War.
Gaming stuff. Drew Karpyshyn’s The Old Republic: Annihilation has been blessed by the blurb fairy. (via) There’s also going to be an Old Republic Encyclopedia.
Audiobooks. Speaking of Karpyshyn, his Darth Bane books will be getting the unabridged audiobook treatment. Look for them in October.
Endnotes. Never-ending endnotes! Jason Fry has posted part 13 of his look behind The Essential Guide to Warfare
Got a mobile device? Reed has posted their mobile app for the con. It’s free and available for Apple devices, Android, and Blackberry, and it downloaded well enough on my iPhone. It seems okay so far, but there’s still a lot of info to be filled in.
Spare a Jawa? Diorama Workshop is looking for action figures for this year’s Tatooine diorama. Even if dioramas aren’t for you, you can help them by sending in toys or Paypaling a donation so that all the kids can go home with a figure. Be sure to check out the past dioramas.
For charity! Well, it’s not a cage match, but you will have the chance to shoot a 501st Legion member with Nerf at the Shoot a Trooper event. They’re raising money for the Peter Mayhew Foundation
I knew when I prepped three stories last night we’d be getting extra news today… And sure enough, here comes the second set of Celebration VI prints. The artists in this round include Tsuneo Sanda and Mark Raats, but my favorite is ‘A Fan’s Hope, Naam’s Huttese Theater, Tatooine,’ above, by friend-of-the-Club Jeff Carlisle.
Finally, a surprise!
Director and fanboy extraordinaire Kevin Smith will be heading to Orlando for Celebration, The Orlando Sentinel reports.
“I took my fandom of ‘Star Wars’ and kind of made it one of the cornerstones of what I do,” Smith said Thursday. Mentions of the films were worked into “Clerks” and “Mallrats,” two early Smith films.
“It kind of became expected that anytime I was making a flick there would be some sort of ‘Star Wars’ joke or reference,” said Smith, 41. “I kept it up for a long, long time.”
Smith will be hosting “An Evening with Kevin Smith” on Thursday, August 23rd at the Orange County Convention Center. Tickets (which, yes, will have to be purchased separately) will go on sale to current attendees on Monday. (via)
UPDATED: The Ticketmaster page for the event (Thanks to Justin!) gives it a starting time of 7pm. The TFN/FanForce Party is the same night, at 8pm. Will Kevin Smith speak until midnight? If so, there’s a choice to be made…
StarWars.com is pimping out the Closing Ceremonies today, saying “there’s something really special planned.” You realize you can’t make us promises like that, right? Because we will way over-guess it, and even if it’s something we wanted anyway, end up cranky because it’s not as huge as what we expected.
So I’m just going to work on the assumption that it’s cake. Seems like the safest bet.
StarWars.com rolled out the first set of reveals for the Celebration VI art prints on Friday. 10 down, 25 to go! My picks are the 3 above, by Stephen Hayford, Russell Walks and Ken Phipps, but Legacy fans will find something from Jan Duursema as well.
In other news, Temuera Morrison (Jango Fett) is coming, bringing the con guest list up to the maximum number of Fetts.
A look over the Celebration site shows they are now accepting applications to be a volunteer at CVI! Go to the site, click on About SWC at the top, then choose Crew to access the information (or use the link prior).
A few important details:
There is an application linked at the bottom of the page. The questions are basic information, asking what experience you have and what you bring to the team. Be honest!
Various Club Jaders have volunteered at Celebration since II in Indy. We’ve worked the lines, ran stages, wrangled guests, helped fans, answered questions, fetched food and drinks, and even helped slice, plate, and serve 5000 pieces of cake. (Celebration IV). Volunteering is work but it can be fun and exciting to be part of the show in a small way. Many of us do it because we get to meet so many other fans who love Star Wars and also help make the event special for everyone we encounter. Others are motivated because you never know what might happen and it makes for an adventurous week. Some of us do it because it is our way of contributing back to the Star Wars community.
A short list of unusual things some of us have done:
If you are thinking of volunteering:
If you’ve said yes to the above, can think fast and creatively on your feet, sign up! Volunteering is a great experience and can introduce you to areas of the fandom you’ve not experienced before. For example, I never did life sized origami until CIII!