Refugees from a Magical Kingdom

 “So, the mouse got you too.” Spider-Man said to the Stormtrooper.  Spidey didn’t know if he was really a Stormtrooper or a Clonetrooper due to all the shake-ups in the Imperial Navy.  Either way he knew that their mutual futures now belonged to a place whispered to be, “The Happiest Place on Earth”.

“That is the word from on high.” The Stormtrooper said.  His voice sounded odd through the voice synthesizer in the trooper’s helmet to Spider-Man’s ears.  “So, what do we do now?” the trooper asked.

“Road trip.”

“What?”

“Road trip.” Spider-Man said, “Think about it, we’ll get out, see the sights; it’ll be a hoot!”

“A ‘Hoot’?  You’re suggesting that I go AWOL from the Empire.

 

“No I’m suggesting a ‘Road trip’ and as for being part of an Empire, YOU are part of an Empire…” Spider-Man’s voice shifted slightly and the Stormtrooper couldn’t quite tell if he was pleased or melancholy.  “…WE are all part of the Empire now.”

The trooper considered this for a moment; perhaps two and asked, “A road trip, you say?”

“Yes.” Any question of melancholy was now replaced with, what the Stormtrooper detected as eagerness & wonder.  He was glad to be in his helmet since it hid the smile on his face.

“Now you’re talkin’!”

“Who knows,” the Stormtrooper said.  “Maybe I’ll finally find those droids I’ve been looking for.”

“ROAD TRIP!” the unlikely pair shouted in unison.

<<< >>>

 

You too can follow the adventures of these two stalwart travelers on Pinterest right here: http://pinterest.com/theevilchicken/travels-with-spider-man-his-amazing-friends/. 

"Why?" you may ask.

Why not? 

Tune in next time!

George Lucas is Retiring

Mr. George Lucas, one of the architects of my imagination, announced that he is retiring from blockbuster filmmaking.  Here is the article by Bryan Curtis from New York Times Magazine, entitled, “George Lucas is Ready to Roll the Credits": http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/22/magazine/george-lucas-red-tails.html?_r=2&smid=tw-nytmag&seid=auto. 

It looks like he has created a loophole for Indiana Jones 5 but from this point forward he is going to be making art-house movies that are designed to fire his imagination.  He’s going to do what he wants to do and that happens to be a wonderful possition to be in.

I wonder how much of this decision was due to the fanboy backlash that happened with the release of the “Special Editions” of his opus, “Star Wars” and the release of “Episode I, II, & III” of the Star Wars series.  As a child of the seventies and as someone who was deeply influenced by “Star Wars” my generation has not been kind concerning “the prequels”.  We grew up and were given new tools to discuss & digest our passions (an internet connection) and the rest was history.  We are, as consumers, a selfish lot ~ but, I ask you, can you blame us?  “Star Wars” changed people’s lives – mine included.  Such devotion is not easily manifested.  In a strange sense Mr. Lucas is the father to a generation of geeks who grew up to be writers, artists, directors, filmmakers, model builders, animators, and innovators.  “Star Wars” made people from my generation of geekdom think differently and for that, Mr. Lucas, we thank you. 

…I thank you.

I am looking forward to seeing; “Red Tails” and am eager to see how you express yourself via film in the future.  I wish all the best to you; Sir on this chosen path but part of me is still wishing that Episodes VII, VIII, and IX were a go.  ...As I may have mentioned we are a selfish lot.

Please forgive my fanboy wishes, Mr. Lucas, all the best.

All Terrain Armored Transport for America

I’m not going to lie to you, Gentle Reader; we are in a slump. We consistently are confronted by bad news Stateside; the economy, the jobless rates, we are mortgaged to other countries three times over, we don’t produce too much these days in science or technology and there are wars on three fronts… some might be tempted into saying something like, “Our best days are behind us.” In a world where corporations are now considered individuals (thanks Supreme Court!) it is hard not to envision the future looming like Darth Vader in a room full of Padawans representative of the evil Empire in the much beloved Star Wars saga.

Hey, if you can’t beat ‘em, JOIN ‘em!

I was poking around Twitter (WIRED’s Underwire, specifically) and found this: http://ht.ly/4ySy4. Yes, that’s right; there is an effort underway to build a full sized – fully functional AT-AT right here in the good ole, U S of A. Let’s face it we are excellent consumers and, as is alluded to in this particular blog posting, one of our favorite consumer items is Popular Culture. As a red blooded, American Geek this pleases me. To think that Adam Savage from Mythbusters has been made privy to these plans shoots my patriotic, Midi-chlorian count off the scale.

They are calling for people to spread the word – which is, as it happens, exactly what I have now done. To quote from this blog, “…Now the rest is up to you. Spread the word. Get organized. We can get this done. If America can put a man on the Moon, we can bring a little bit of Hoth to the Earth. To volunteer to help, email ATATforAmerica@hotmail.com”.

Remember you real-life nephew of your Uncle Sam, the Force will be with you… Always.

Want to Win an AT-AT?

If you just asked the question, “What’s an AT-AT?” Thank you for stopping by. This particular blog posting is NOT for you. No hard feelings, Gentle Reader; I’ll see you next time.

Still here? Good. It is no big secret; I am a geek. If you are a geek too I HIGHLY recommend that you go to: http://www.wired.com/underwire/2010/05/celebrate-empire-strikes-backs-birthday-win-a-killer-at-at/.

“Why?”

I’ll tell you why – to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the film, “The Empire Strikes Back”, Wired Magazine is giving away a new version of an old classic – an All Terrain Armored Transport. I have no doubt that you know that these are the weapons the Empire unleashed on the rebel base on Hoth. Yeah, it’s pretty iconic. Epic, dare I say.

“What do I have to do?”

Excellent question! All you have to do is comment about why YOU deserve such a favor. That’s it. Nothing more, nothing less.

Here is what I posted…


I’m not alone in saying that “Star Wars” changed my life. Seriously; “Star Wars” made me want to discover stories (in whatever form they materialize) and then, tell them. I think I saw it three times during that summer of 1977. And then George Lucas’s Empire really grew due to the magic of toy merchandizing. My favorite toy was my “Millennium Falcon”. It was choice. It held a slew of figures and had that cool 3D video game table from the movie. Oh yeah, it rocked.

When “The Empire Strikes Back” came out 30 years ago I remember being stunned; immobilized in the theater chair. [Gratuitously Unnecessary Spoiler Alert] How could Darth Vader by Luke’s father?! How is Leia going to rescue Han from Boba Fett? What is Luke going to do without a lightsaber? Why is Lando wearing Han’s hand me downs? [End Unnecessary Spoiler Alert] And then the next wave of toys came. I remember begging for a “Kenner” AT-AT Walker and, low and behold, for my birthday I got one! I loved that thing; it was like a multi-jointed Old Yeller without the rabies and need to go outside. What a great toy. When “Return of the Jedi” came out and I was pleased to see that an AT-AT had a cameo appearance on that forest moon of Endor. AT-AT’s need work too.

Time passed as time always does. I maintained my collection but, by this time, I had to pay the rent. It was a sad day but I sold my entire “Star Wars” collection; all for a roof over our heads (did I mention I was now married? No? Well now you know that too). I sold my childhood that fateful day and winning this “Hasbro” AT-AT would bring a bit of that back.

Say, you guys don’t happen to have an extra Millennium Falcon hanging around, do you?


…There. That wasn’t so bad was it?

Now try your hand at it! However, I must warn you… I have already picked out a space in the Chicken’s Lair where the AT-AT will grace.

Good Luck.

The Force is Strong with This One

Earlier in the month I stumbled upon a contest being run by Ain’t It Cool News. It was a writing competition where movie geeks would re-write the duel between Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi from the end of the movie, “Revenge of the Sith”, and submit it in script format by Labor Day. Here’re the gory details: http://www.aintitcool.com/node/37975.

“…So you win a statue?”

Yes. It’s actually a Diorama of Obi-Wan and Anakin dueling from “Revenge of the Sith” produced by Sideshow Collectables. But what’s even better is that you get to write a scene from Star Wars that someone (Quint) judged to be better than George Lucas’s final draft. Now there are some geek bragging rights for ya.

Well tonight, with Mother Hen’s assistance, I just e-mailed my PDF file to Quint. I will spare you the chore of reading the entry. Rest assured if you are not a Star Wars geek, you just wouldn’t want to read it anyway. Quint (one of the reviewers from AICN) is going to have a lot of reading ahead of him these next few weeks.

Oh well, it was fun and, for the most part, it keeps me off of the streets.

I’ll let you know what happens.