The (completely unofficial) Star Wars style guide: Terms every fan should know how to use correctly

Every time I see someone use the term ‘Jedis,’ I sigh.

Maybe it’s petty, but few things drive me battier than glaring Star Wars typos, particularly when they come from professional and semi-professional news outlets. Here are a few Star Wars terms and spellings every fan (and entertainment journalist) ought to know and use correctly in the years ahead.

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No big surprises in Oscar noms

Per usual, not too much for genre fans to get excited about. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, which I suppose could classify as fantasy, sort of, had the most nods this year, including Best Picture and Actor. Heath Ledger is up for Best Supporting Actor for The Dark Knight, but the movie failed to get any other major nominations. It is up for the usual throw-them-a-bone categories of Cinematography, Film Editing, Makeup, Sound Editing, and Sound Mixing.

Wall-E did pretty good – it failed to get a Best Picture nod as many were hoping for, but it is up for Animated Film (duh,) Original Screenplay, Original Song, and several technical awards.

The Visual Effects category puts Benjamin Button up against The Dark Knight and ILM’s Iron Man.

UPDATE: StarWars.com has a full listing of all ILM and Skywalker Sound Oscar nominations, as well as BAFTA and VES nods.

LFL threefer: Post-pro and Padawans

Industrial Light & Magic and Skywalker Sound servicing more than just the big budgets – both post-production firms are becoming more available to ‘smaller’ films.

Cnet’s Daniel Terdiman gets to visit the Ranch for a behind-the-scenes look at Skywalker Sound. (Copy editing quirk: Han Solo has a lightsaber?)

Last but by no means least: Lucasfilm Animation Singapore is starting up the Jedi Master Program – a paid apprenticeship for computer graphics artists. Sounds like an amazing opportunity – the competition to get in is sure to be fierce!