Hallmark’s Star Wars ornaments for 2009

It’s May, so of course the Dream Book is out, because nothing says spring like planning out your Christmas tree. This year’s Star Wars selections are include The Phantom Menace duel (above,) Han in Stormtrooper gear, Luke’s landspeeder, and a Clone Wars twofer of Anakin and Ahsoka.

Also of interest: Indiana Jones, Star Trek, Harry Potter, Ghostbusters and my personal grinchy favorite, the Wicked Witch of the West.

(Thanks, Rach!)

Do you remember the first Celebration?

celebration110 years ago this week, the first official Star Wars convention was held in Denver as a prelude to The Phantom Menace. StarWars.com is devoting the week to coverage, and I found a small set of pictures from Paxton Holley on Flickr.

I believe a grand total of 3 CJers attended: I was not among them. (Hell, I barely remember seeing the actual movie.) I do recall the predominant tone of the internet reports were lines and mud – not really all that different from the later events. (Minus the mud.) And that there was some sort of Jar Jar dance party. (?)

Did you go? Do you remember? Someone has to.

Neuroscience explains the prequel backlash?

io9 today links an interesting exploration of Neuroscience and Nostalgia. Included is a bit about why the prequels sparked a wave of Lucas hate:

The reaction can be partly explained by the sense of attack on our previously fond feelings. Watching the new movie automatically calls up memories from the previous series and all the pleasant childhood playtime memories associated with it. But recalling these fond memories in the context of a negative experience begins the process of re-coding, or modifying our old memories. This is an undesirable outcome for nostalgia as it is usually such a pleasant feeling. Naturally there is some resistance and cognitive dissonance when this happens and the brain will try to avoid it like any other unpleasant experience.

So, George Lucas did rape your childhood… From a certain point of view. Ouch.

Alas, it really can’t explain why I spent the late 90’s calling for the head of Kevin J. Anderson… Or does it? We all have our demons, I suppose.

The fandom minute: Thracken misses io9’s bus, My Little Ponies, Flickr, Designer editions

Han Solo and his identical cousin, Thracken Sal-Solo  (You can lose your mind!) You missed one. io9 lists the most ridiculous evil twins in the multiverse, tragically ignoring Star Wars’ Thrackan Sal-Solo. Okay, sure, so maybe a mention for a C-list Expanded Universe character is too much to expect, but he’s the identical cousin of Han Solo! But evil! With a mustache! He led an organization called the Human League! What’s not to mock?

Eye Candy: Searching LIFE for Star Wars

LIFE: Carrie Fisher, Alec Guinness and Mark Hamill @ ANH 10th anniversary party

A couple months ago, the LIFE photo archive went up in Google, fully searchable. Plenty has been done with them since then, but it didn’t occur to me to look for Star Wars until today. There isn’t a ton there – the bulk of images that come up are from The Phantom Menace premiere – but there are a few things of interest, like Time covers, some vintage toy pics and this shot of Carrie Fisher, Alec Guinness and Mark Hamill at a party celebrating the tenth anniversary of A New Hope. You get about the same amount of shots searching for just George Lucas, and even more for Harrison Ford, but clearly Sir Alec wins. (Wait! Was it really a party for ANH? Now I doubt.) But perhaps most amusingly: Jar-Jar and Madeline Albright? Or Peter Cushing in Hamlet?

Off the fannish track, two of the more interesting uses I’ve seen around the web have been Jezebel’s The Way We Were features and Typophile’s book cover meme.