His nerdiness has never been much of a secret, but pictures of President Obama with a toy lightsaber on the South Lawn Wednesday afternoon have stormed the internet! Fear not, there were real fencers and other athletes on hand – it was all an effort to promote Chicago’s bid to host the 2016 Olympics.
The fandom minute: Spacebook, sports, puns, photos, blogs, corrdors, and the wisdom of Han Solo
Today on Spacebook.. This t-shirt design by Hogboy has been making the rounds. I would dare take a guess that this genius is the inspiration.
- Wide world of puns. The University of Michigan has a quarterback named Tate Forcier. You don’t even have to imagine: They’ve already been made.
- Action figures in action. Bonnie interviews Stéfan Le Dû about his Stormtroopers 365 project.
- Internet inevitability. Animals with lightsabers, the blog. (via)
- Freeform advice. What would Han Solo do?
- Randomly… Den of Geek praises the sci-fi corridor.
Fan craft spotlight: A lightsaber scarf!?!
Brilliant! This lightsaber scarf is the creation of Rebecca, aka Sorakirei at Flickr. Click on through for more pics, including construction.
Morning news sarcasm: High culture, low culture
High culture, with bunnies. A friend of mine actually went to see this production of Richard Wagner’s Die Walküre involving lightsabers, but us uncultured barbarians are probably better off with Chuck Jones and DVDs.
High culture, geek edition. Does the world really need another Tolkien book? Apparently, yes.
It’s on TV! Variety’s Season Pass blog has a great interview with Lost‘s Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof. Sorry, no snark here: If you watch the show, this is a must-read.
Video games. Bad reviews make creators sad? Come on guys, you work for LucasArts. Embrace the pain.
Eye candy: The lightsaber FIELD
io9 discovered the art project FIELD – 1301 fluorescent bulbs planted on a British farm, powered from above by power lines. Artist Richard Box was inspired by – what else? – tales of lightsaber games. The actual field, circa 2004, is long gone, but you can see more pictures at Box’s website.
Video: Make a lightsaber, or just learn about ’em
I have to say this is the most informative ‘make-a-lightsaber’ video I’ve ever seen. Yay? (via)
Bundle up for tonight’s Clone Wars
It’s Friday, and ‘Trespass’ debuts tonight. The episode introduces Chairman Chi Cho, voiced by Brian George, and also features quite a bit of Threepio. Get a preview with the latest webcomic, ‘Cold Snap’
- Last week: Watch ‘Defenders of Peace.’
- Reviews: CJ reader Ben Rollman (Xadrian) is doing them for Television Zombies. Here’s ‘Jedi Crash.’
- Podcast: The Force-Cast’s Clone Wars Roundtable talk ‘Defenders of Peace’ with Fanboy’s Kyle Newman.
- Merchandise: eFX is producing an Ahsoka Tano Lightsaber; Some new kid’s books from Penguin.
Fun stuff: The periodic table of awesoments
By Dapperstache. Includes many things dear to our hearts, like Jedi, robots, hyperspace, lightsabers and liquor. Clickthrough to read it!
The fandom minute: Lightsaber restrictions, 501st helmet project, Falcon song, LEGO nativity
Facepalm du jour: Woolworths in the U.K. is requiring that people must be 18 or old to purchase a cheap plastic lightsaber, because it might be mistake for a gun. Meanwhile, I bet anyone can go into the hardware section and buy a working flashlight fully capable of braining a full-grown man.
- Incoming: The 501st is sponsoring the TK Helmet Project. Dave Filoni, Daniel Logan, Dave Dorman, Lawrence Noble, Don Bies and the Robot Chicken folks are among the participants.
- Music: John Anealio wanted the Millennium Falcon for Christmas, and thirty years later writes a song about it.
- Crafts: Check out the Star Wars LEGO nativity!
Luke’s lightsaber goes for $240,000 at auction
Someone either made a very good or a very bad investment today… The A New Hope lightsaber in the Profiles in History action sold for $240,000, while Threepio’s helmet went for half that. That’s not quite as much as the last high-priced Star Wars item, but it does beat another (or the same?) ANH saber, which went for $170,000 in 2005. (via)