Wacky merchandise: Tiny Mos Eisleys for you and me

Hawthorne Village, which produces those little Christmas villages beloved by grandmas, aunties, and other connoisseurs of twee*, is now a Star Wars licensee. First up is the Mos Eisley Cantina, which Rebelscum has thoughtfully provided a picture of. (Click the picture above to go directly to the full ad.) I’m getting a total kick out of the image of fanboys drooling all over these things, and/or little kids begging Mom to include the Hoth Rebel base next December.

* They have the Thomas Kinkade license: ‘Nuff said. And, less alarmingly, Disney, which leads to Pirates of the Caribbean.

The ‘Force trainer’ is not an Onion story

No, USA Today is reporting this one straight, complete with comments from Howard Roffman. The Force Trainer “uses brain waves to allow players to manipulate a sphere.” Naturally.

No, you’re not tapping into some “all-powerful force controlling everything,” as Han Solo said in the movies. But you are reaching out with mind power via one of the first mass-market brain-to-computer products. “It’s been a fantasy everyone has had, using The Force,” says Howard Roffman, president of Lucas Licensing.

…In the Force Trainer, a wireless headset reads your brain activity, in a simplified version of EEG medical tests, and the circuitry translates it to physical action. If you focus well enough, the training sphere, which looks like a ping-pong ball, will rise in the tower.

Call me when they start making the toy lightsabers with real light, okay? (via)

Wacky merchandise of the day: Personalized what?

I realize that I am in the minority here, but I’ve always thought that getting books signed by their author is rather pointless. So I really don’t understand why anyone would want to bother getting an edition of a Star Wars novel with a personalized dedication page. (At least they’re not offering to do a find-and-replace with [insert character here]?) I suppose it makes sense for gifts, and it’s getting be that season… But still. Oh well: Whatever floats your boat.