I Have moved

I have moved over to the GW blog come follow all my random news there.

George Lucas On the Daily show

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
George Lucas
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Crisis

Star Wars: "Strictly Big Screen Stuff"

From Starwars.com

It took some serious searching, but thanks to fan and collector Bo Sanders, StarWars.com is finally able to present the final series of Star Wars radio spots, or commercials, released between 1977-1979!

Previously, we had released four of the six radio spot campaigns, which are designated by letters --
Campaign A [we assigned the "A" in this instance for consistency -- the actual campaign possessed no letter]
Campaign C (Spanish)
Campaign E
Campaign F

The missing Campaign B was actually identical to the first three spots featured in Campaign D below -- the fourth spot being the only new addition to Campaign D. So, to our knowledge, this is the complete set of radio commercials for the first movie, provided there is not an English-version Campaign C still at large (let us know if you find them!). We suspect the "D" series spots were released sometime in late 1977 or early 1978.

Volume on these is a bit on the loud side -- be warned -- but all the more effective for those awkward slogans whipped up by the fledgling Star Wars ad crew: "Star Wars: Strictly big screen stuff," "A billion years in the making," and "Mere words can't describe it!" Indeed.

LucasArts Developers Talk Star Wars Game Development Strategy

From Shacknews

Will Freeman of industry news site Develop recently interviewed several LucasArts employees about the process of developing games set in the Star Wars universe during a visit to Lucas' Letterman Digital Arts Center in San Francisco. At the time, the LucasArts crew was polishing up a new Clone Wars game and its related TV series, as well as finishing up work on Lego Indiana Jones and a new Battlefront release for handhelds.
It's no secret that Star Wars is one of the most ferociously guarded and multifaceted IP's around. As Freeman learned, though, each effort in the canon manifests by way of a deeply collaborative environment (overseen by George, of course). Clone Wars game developer Vince Kudirka recounts how helpful it was to have the LucasFilm animation team offering advice and feedback on character animations early in the game's design. The team behind the Clone Wars TV show even shared technology with the game design team, helping them maintain authenticity.

The licensing department reviews all things Star Wars and has the final say on how the IP is used, a process that some developers find liberating. The Force Unleashed producer Cameron Suey recounts the game's design phase, stating that the team "shot for the moon" in terms of content they'd like to include, and then let the licensing team determine what wouldn't make the cut.

Dave Collins, LucasArts game sound supervisor and voice director, notes the importance of iconic sounds necessary to flesh-out a Star Wars experience. In order to make a game feel like Star Wars, he explains, "there are certain audio anchors that people need emotionally." Collins also admits that while there's still room for creativity and flexibility when being faithful to the source material, he concedes that "Everything we do at Lucas is definitely in service of a license."

Is there going to be a Star Wars/DC Comics crossover?

Reported by Bleedingcool

Of course much bigger news will be the DC Universe, Dark Horse and LucasFilm getting into bed for crossovers with epic proportions.


Hmmmmm what are they up to now??

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed Hoth DLC coming to Xbox Live

According To Joystiq

As luck would have it, that one missing piece of content for Star Wars: The Force Unleashed that was "exclusive" to the "Ultimate Sith Edition" of the game -- the obligatory Hoth level -- seems to be heading to Xbox Live Marketplace. Spotted by Joystiq reader Andy in the "Coming Soon" section of the XBLM (and seen above), the "Star Wars: The Force Unleashed Hoth Bonus Level" certainly appears to be heading to, at very least, Xbox 360 users.

BattleFront 3 still Alive?

Battlefront3.net is reporting that it is still alive, great news if it is.

So, I received some promising news this morning in my email, which may bring a couple smiles to a few Battlefront 3 fans. On December 10th, I came across a link on the LucasArts forums (Thanks: robpolman) which included a link to an actor (Chris Marazzo) who has recently done some work with LucasArts on the secretly rumored Battlefront 3.

I thought this was very interesting, so I took the liberty of sending Chris an email. Basically, I asked him if he had the time to discuss what he had done with LucasArts and if he could disclose some information on the Battlefront 3 project.

So, this morning, while checking my email, I had a glorious response from Chris.

Here’s what he had to say:

“Hey Aaron,

Thanks for getting in touch. The Original Title was Battlefront 3 but it evolved into Star Wars Empire at War: Forces of Corruption”

I though that this was fairly interesting, I had no idea that this was even considered to Battlefront 3.

This was the highlight of the conversation though:

“However Battlefront 3 is also in development. It was by far the Most Fun and Coolest Casting I ever worked on.”

Sweeet! Can’t get much more direct than that! Naturally, of course, I can’t confirm that this is truly accurate, but by the sounds of it, it looks like we will get our Battlefront 3 eventually!

Chris was also so nice and very cool to add that he may be able to dig me up some Battlefront 3 storyboards, by the end of the week!!

Battlefront3.net

Star Wars' exhibit on its way to Anchorage

From outer-space to Alaska-- Darth Vader will face off against Luke Skywalker at the Anchorage Museum.

Tickets went on sale Tuesday for "Star Wars: Where science meets imagination."

The traveling exhibit features popular "Star Wars" memorabilia like Darth Vader's original suit, a life sized C3PO, and you can even climb inside the Millenium Falcon's cockpit for a trip through space.

The exhibit runs Feb. 10 - April 25.

"Star Wars, it's attractive to all ages. I think kids now love it because of the Star Wars ‘Clone Wars.' I think people in their 30s like me, it's all about memorabilia. We remember when the movies came out in the 70s, it's multi-generational, I think. It spans from kids to old folks too." said Jara Haas with the museum.

The exhibit comes to Anchorage from Australia.

Tickets are available at the Anchorage Museum or on its Web site.

AS reported by KTUU Channel 2

George Lucas loses court appeal

George Lucas’s empire failed to strike back in the Court of Appeal today as he lost a multimillion-pound legal battle with the British creator of the Star Wars stormtrooper helmets.

Andrew Ainsworth recently began selling replicas of helmets and armour made from his original mould, prompting a $20 million (£12 million) lawsuit from Lucasfilm, Mr Lucas’s company. But yesterday a court agreed that he had not broken any British law — because his creations were not art.

“It’s taken five years but I think this should be just about the end of it,” Mr Ainsworth told The Times this morning. He is now recruiting sales and marketing staff and planning a big expansion of his memorabilia company.

Lucasfilm vowed to take the case to Britain’s new Supreme Court, saying that famous props such as the Daleks from Doctor Who could be freely copied under the Appeal Court’s ruling.


You can read rest of the story on UK Times Online

Star Wars Series 2 Boba Fett Key Chain

Wish you had a Fett in your pocket? Well Entertainment Earth can help with that.

Star Wars Series 2 Boba Fett Key Chain:


Take the force with you at all times! Decorate your dull key ring with these cool-looking, and detailed mini keychains featuring all your favorite Star Wars characters! Each PVC keychain figure comes individually packaged in a blister card. Each figure stands about 3 3/4-inches tall with an attached key ring for easy display.

Entertainment Earth

Minneapolis Fundraiser - Star Wars Holiday Special

Fans of "Star Wars" have a chance to see a free screening of the notoriously bad "Star Wars Holiday Special."

The Minnesota Film and TV Board is showing the 1978 television special as an official Toys for Tots event. It will be screened Wednesday at Bryant-Lake Bowl.

Film Board director of services Chris Grap is a fan of bad movies. Grap says he "couldn't believe" the "Star Wars Holiday Special" existed.

The screening is free, but people bringing a toy donation will get priority seating. Doors open at 9 p.m.

Minnesota Film and TV Board



IF you can't go and want to enjoy the movie in it's own splender here:

Kayla Kromer was featured on Neatorama about a year ago for her Hamburger Bed. Now she strikes back with this must have bed for any Star Wars fan. Featuring working headlights, starfield projection, and hidden compartments, its cockpit can also hold action figures (although the two she picked are, indeed, sacrilege). I like the radar dish pillow.



Addtional PIctures and Kayla's Facebook

Skywalker Ranch

Skywalker Ranch from Philip Bloom on Vimeo.

From his blog:

So I flew to San Francisco on Saturday last week and drove to the ranch (via Best Buy of course!). What a stunning place. In the middle of nowhere with enormous beautiful natural grounds and complimentary buildings. I was put in the Federico Fellini apartment. Each apartment is named after a famous person. From architects to actors, composers, writers, photographers, filmmakers. The one I was in is the one where Clint Eastwood always stays. Yes, I slept in Clint’s bed!

The first night, knowing the weather was not supposed to be great over the next few days I did some night timelapses using my 7D and 5DmkII. I left them running until 3am when they froze over!

Read his full blog Philip Bloom Blog

In The Bleak Lego Star Wars Midwinter

Lego and Star Wars afficendo got all inventive to take some amazing images of the wintery planet of Hoth.

Check out the picture on the right, pretty awesome, yes? It shows a rebel pilot arguing with a tech about getting his Y-Wing to fly in the frozen wastes of Hoth. The picture is so detailed, you can see individual snowflakes falling from the sky. But how was this image done? If your first thought was 'Photoshop' you'd be wonderfully incorrect, because this image is largely free from digital trickery.

Created by Finnish photographer Avanaut, the scene is actually underwater in a transparent tank, which allows the scene to be photographed without needing a high shutter speed. Hidden beneath the layer of snow is a grey baseplate that the model and minifigs are attached to to prevent them floating.

It's worth checking out the rest of Avanaut's flickr stream because he's got plenty of very cool images for you to peruse.

via Escapist

Also you can check out rest of the artists pictures here

Lucasarts Announces Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II

Lucasarts has revealed a followup to their decently received Star Wars: The Force Unleashed tonight on Spike's 2009 VGAs. The trailer shows the apprentice Starkiller walking down a hall, haunted by the voices of both Darth Vader and Jedi Master Yoda, signaling a likely expansion of the rudimentary morality system of the original to include choices involving the light and dark side of the Force. We'll have more information on Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II in the coming weeks.



the offical site can be found at Unleashed2010.com

New Era for Star Wars Caps

While the new series of Star Wars caps being put out by Japan's New Era company are not currently available in the US, we feel they're cool enough to warrant a shout-out even if we can only admire them from afar.

What makes New Era's Star Wars caps so unique is the fact that each appears to be a separate work of art -- the cap itself exhibits stunning wrap-around graphics and is made from a variety of materials, and the underside of the bill showcases imagery related to the cap's overall theme, be it R2-D2, Yoda, Chewbacca, or Boba Fett.

Some of the stand-outs include the shiny metallic dome of Artoo, shiny gold for Threepio, slick black for Vader, and furry ear flaps for Chewbacca.

If you've got a friend living in Japan, now might be the time to call in that favor, or drop some heavy-handed hints for the holidays. Be prepared, though -- these babies don't come cheap. Ranging in price from ¥6,090 ($69) to ¥9,240 ($105), you'll be wearing quite a bounty on your head.

Head on over to New Era's site (it's in Japanese) for detailed views of each of the new 20 Star Wars caps in the line.

via

'Star Wars: The Old Republic' - Sith Inquisitor

Sith Inquisitor

The history of the Sith Empire is fraught with scheming politics and dark secrets—the lifeblood of the Sith Inquisitor. Treachery hides around every corner in the Empire’s dark corridors, and survival depends on an individual’s natural cunning and the will to manipulate and defeat their enemies and allies alike. The Inquisitor experiments with forbidden powers to not only survive in this cutthroat environment, but to excel and seize authority.

Regardless of potential, few acolytes succeed in facing the rigorous trials to become Sith Inquisitors. Only the most determined acolytes attain such an achievement, but these Sith are often the ones to watch. Due to their manipulative genius, Inquisitors are skilled at exploiting both their enemies and their allies to further their own personal agendas. Channeling this Force energy, Inquisitors are capable of draining the life from their enemies and using it to feed themselves and their allies.

Though their skills are varied and many, Sith Inquisitors are most feared for their ability to channel the energy of the Force, making them a spectacle to behold on the battlefield. Seething sparks of lightning explode from the Inquisitors’ fingertips and wrap their enemies in tendrils of pure Force energy. Because Inquisitors can twist the Force into lightning to stun, subdue, or destroy their foes, it has become their signature. Those who have experienced the sensation of the Inquisitor’s Force Lightning and survived forever recoil from the crackling sound of electricity.



Mastering the Dark Side

To reach the highest echelons of power, the Inquisitor needs more than Force Lightning and a razor-sharp mind. The most formidable Inquisitors dare to explore unorthodox practices by investigating the enigmas of the past and by unlocking new powers for themselves. The Force is a source of unlimited potential—a wellspring Inquisitors tap and bend to their will. Such intensity allows Sith Inquisitors to become architects of the Empire’s future… or simply the architects of their own destruction.

Field Reconnaissance
The destruction Sith Inquisitors leave in their wake rarely allows for the survival of any recorded images. In the cases where the Inquisitors fury has been caught on holo, however, the daunting presence and the awe-inspiring power at the Inquisitors’ disposal present a striking picture. Whether the Inquisitor wields a Lightsaber with lightning-sharp attacks, or just Force Lightning itself, it’s always a dazzling display of deadly energy.

Outfitting

Asserting power and authority is one of the highest priorities for the Sith Inquisitors. Their choice of attire reflects this strategy, as they often prefer dark, high-contrast robes to express their sophisticated tastes and ambitions for political control. Nonetheless, despite regal appearances, great attention is given to ensure all their attire allows the flexibility for stunning acrobatics in Lightsaber combat. Of course, some Inquisitor outfits take expression to the highest extreme—designed to inspire sheer terror in those the Inquisitor comes into contact with.

Combat Tactics

Whether facing a traitorous fellow Sith or a crowd of Republic soldiers, the Inquisitor fights with unlimited fury to create a storm of destruction. Expertise in conducting Force energies further allows Inquisitors to draw upon the life essence of themselves and others. This energy can be channeled to bolster their powers, harm their foes, and even to reinvigorate their allies. An Inquisitor’s skills with a Lightsaber are equally impressive. Often wielding a double-bladed Lightsaber, Inquisitors use quick, guileful, and lethal maneuvers to strike their enemies down with astonishing speed.

NATALIE PORTMAN - PORTMAN 'OVERDID IT' WITH WORKLOAD

NATALIE PORTMAN is struggling with her heavy workload after "overdoing it" by taking on every project she has been offered.
The Star Wars beauty has been busy promoting her new movie Brothers, and recently wrapped filming on period comedy Your Highness with James Franco.
Portman went straight back to work with director Darren Aronofsky for Black Swan, which she is currently shooting, and she's then set to join Robert De Niro and director Kenneth Branagh in the comic-book adaptation of Thor.
The 28 year old has also just signed on to tackle Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, an adaptation of Seth Grahame-Smith's book which adds flesh-eating monsters to Jane Austin's period novel.
And that's not all - she recently produced her first movie, Hesher, and adapted Amos Oz's novel A Tale of Love and Darkness for the big screen, which she hopes to also direct.
The ambitious actress admits she's struggling to juggle all the different projects and maybe shouldn't have committed herself to so much work.
She tells Marie Claire magazine, "I overdid it. It was like an all-you-can-eat buffet, and I was like, 'I'm hungry!' And now I'm like, 'Oh, s**t!'
"I tend to get overambitious with what I can do."


As reported by Contact Music

Star Wars Lightsaber Chopsticks

Coming in three intergalactic semi-transparent colors, each for a different character: red (Darth Vader), green (Yoda) and blue (Luke Skywalker). Check out the handle too!

You can order them Japan Trend Shop

Win tickets to Celebration V - From Maxim

Great contest from Maxim as reported on their website:

When you are a big league sci-fi or fantasy property, you make sure to snag yourself some prime real estate at epic fan gatherings like San Diego Comic Con or WonderCon. When you are pretty much the sci-fi or fantasy property, you get a Con of your very own. The fifth Star Wars Celebration—or Star Wars Celebration V—is coming to Orlando, Florida in August 2010. And we can help you get there.

We've got two (2) four-day passes to Celebration V to give away, but you're going to have to prove your Star Wars mettle to get them. Since next year's event is built around the 30th anniversary of The Empire Strikes Back, we're going to give you five Empire-related questions to answer. Get them right, and your name will be entered into a random drawing for the passes. But you'll have to get your own way to Orlando, of course.

Let the test begin…

I. Luke Skywalker's co-pilot during the battle of Hoth is the unfortunate Dak. Who rode shotgun with Luke's buddy Wedge?

II. Which one of these bounty hunters is not present for Darth Vader's "Let's Hunt the Millennium Falcon" party: Boba Fett, Bossk, Aurra Sing, IG-88, Dengar, Zuckuss, 4-LOM

III. After visiting Luke during his recovery from the Wampa attack, Han Solo remarks that the kid looks strong enough to do what?

IV. The Rebel snow speeders use what "attack pattern" against the AT-ATs on Hoth?

V. Which sequence in the movie features an unusual cameo from a potato?

Submit your answers to starwarsgiveaway@maxim.com by January 17, 2010. All entry e-mails MUST contain all of the following information to qualify:

First Name
Last Name
Email
Address
City
State
Postal Code
Phone Number
Cell Number (to receive onsite text updates while at Celebration V)
Would you like to receive the Celebration V/Lucasfilm Newsletter? (Yes/No)

Once again, only entries with all five questions answered CORRECTLY will be entered into the drawing, and the winner will be selected at random.

Go to Maxim site to see offical rules. This is a great option.