#MyFirstStarWarsMemory trending on Twitter

The hashtag #MyFirstStarWarsMemory has been trending on Twitter today, with some entertaining results. Here's a few of the tweets I liked. 

#myFirstStarWarsMemoryWatching THAT Star Destroyer overtake Leia's Blockade Runner. 6-7 yrs old?Absolutely stunning #jawonthefloor

— Jim Franklin (@milkmaker73) May 17, 2013

#MyFirstStarWarsMemory I don't actually have one. It's like language, it's been part of my life for so long that I don't have a first memory

— Aldo Ojeda (@aldoojeda) May 17, 2013

#MyFirstStarWarsMemory Age 5, scared to see the movie w/ the "big red monkey" (Chewbacca). Begged my parents to see "Benji" #fatherknowsbest

— Dace Campbell (@DaceCampbell) May 17, 2013

#myfirststarwarsmemory trying to still watch a new hope while ducked under a table during the northridge earthquake

— Doug Porter (@doug_porter) May 17, 2013

#myfirststarwarsmemory is fighting off all the girls in kinder who wanted to play Star Wars bc there was only ONE Princess Leia. @starwars

— Jenn Rodriguez(@JennJenn1074) May 17, 2013

@starwars#MyFirstStarWarsMemory the film breaking during the Death Star trench run and not seeing the end until the next weekend. May 1977

— Sean Mullin (@Sean_Mullin_) May 17, 2013

#MyFirstStarWarsMemory was going to see Jedi in the theater with my Dad, a memory I will repeat w my son when Episode VII comes out in 2 yrs

— Mr. Kevin Graber(@kcgwisdom) May 17, 2013

Did anyone else use the cardboard tubes from inside wrapping paper as "light sabers"? Because this girl did. #MyFirstStarWarsMemory

— Clairification (@thedailyclaire) May 17, 2013

@starwars #MyFirstStarWarsMemory Being seven years old in '77, and sitting down front in the theater; the Star Destroyer looked a mile wide!

— John Hanlin (@pittboy87) May 17, 2013

Pretending to be sick so I could stay home from school to watch them.#MyFirstStarWarsMemory

— Marilynn † (@murryelizabeth) May 17, 2013

#MyFirstStarWarsMemory Han Solo in carbonite. I was 4/5 and I didn't understand so my dad told me they'd kind of pickled him for a while :D

— Alexandria Hope (@zandryah) May 17, 2013

Seeing ROTJ in the theater (RKO Keith's - Flushing, NY) I was 3 & it's one of my 1st memories at all @starwars#myFirstStarWarsMemory

— Frank Hallam (@nuftjedi) May 17, 2013

New football stadium a Sandcrawler

Blogger Sarah Sprague points out that plans for the new Minnesota Vikings stadium reveal it to be strongly reminiscent of a Jawa Sandcrawler:

Image from Vikings.com

It's not the first building in the world to look like a Sandcrawler. In fact, Lucasfilm itself is building a Sandcrawler in Singapore:

Image from Pursuitist.com

Kissing Suzy Kolber: The New Vikings Stadium Looks Like the Sandcrawler in Star Wars

Pursuitist: Lucasfilm Singapore's "Sandcrawler" Building

RebelForce Radio's Star Wars live commentary

RebelForce Radio (a Star Wars radio show and podcast) recently recorded a live commentary of Star Wars with actor Sam Witwer. If you've got the film on Blu-Ray (I don't), you can cue it up to play in sync with the commentary as you listen.

Witwer has been a voice actor in the Clone Wars TV show and in a number of LucasArts video games. I don't know much about him and frankly didn't expect much. I was pleasantly surprised by how thoughtful and informed his commentary was. 

Shotglass Digital: Star Wars Celebrity Commentary: Episode IV - A New Hope

Star Wars Celebrity Commentary: Episode IV - A New Hope (direct link)

They put me on the news to talk about Star Wars!

Sadly there's no way to embed this video, but here's the link if you're interested. Warning: there's a 15 second commercial first.

CTV British Columbia | Videos - 9000 Canadians list Jedi Knight as religion

Jedi ranks declining in Canada: census

Canada's latest census results show that the number of adherents to Jediism (i.e., as a religion) is declining. From CTV News:

Once numbering in the vicinity of 20,000, the ranks of those in this country who claim to be Jedi Knights have dwindled to fewer than half that figure, according to Statistics Canada's first release of data from the 2011 National Household Survey.

"A lot less this time. I think there's about 9,000 reporting Jedi," said Jane Badets, a senior analyst at Statistics Canada.

"And that was true elsewhere in other countries. A lot less than in other countries, too, doing censuses. Very low reporting of things like Jedi."

What started as a gag among friends on a British Columbia ski hill ballooned into something of a phenomenon on the 2001 census when thousands of Canadians told Statistics Canada they followed the Jedi religion of Star Wars lore.

This pattern is consistent with the results of the recent UK census, where Jediism is also in decline. The joke's getting a bit old, I suppose.

(By the way, if there's a prize for "strained references to Star Wars in a story title", this one wins.)

CTV News: Started as B.C. gag, strong force claiming to be Jedi knights dwindling (with thanks to @mspratt)

Thoughtful piece on D&D's glory days

Yesterday Boing Boing carried this thoughtful piece by Peter Bebergal about D&D past and present. From the piece:

The bigger news earlier this year is the online PDF store Dungeons and Dragons Classics where for a few bucks you can download the “classic” D&D material, including the Basic and Expert guides, as well as versions 2.0, 3.0, and 3.5. The site is not actually run by Wizards, but piggybacked onto the terrific DriveThru RPG, a stellar resource for role-playing. There are missed opportunities here, including not making these available as print-on-demand, an option that has become central to OSR culture.

A more cynical observation, and one I can’t help but make, is that the cost to post these items online is negligible. The operators are able to make a profit on material that it had no hand in producing—content that has long been available in OSR clones. This is not to say that it isn’t terrific to have these items available, as some of them are fairly collectible and Wizards deserves credit for buying TSR when the alternative might have been the end of the game itself. But there is something uninspired in the whole effort. It is as if Wizards does not really see new value in the old D&D material, but merely recognizes the opportunity to make money from those who do.

Nevertheless, reading through these items—particularly the AD&D hardcovers—is a joy. Here is Gygax describing playing a character: “Each of you will become an artful thespian as time goes by—you will acquire gold, magic items, and great renown... This game lets all your fantasies come true... Enjoy, for this game is what dreams are made.” Sure, it’s over the top. But it evoked wonder.

Tellingly, Bebergal goes on to quote the same passage from Gygax's Player's Handbook that I quote from in A Long Time Ago.

What does D&D have to do with Star Wars? A fair bit, as I argued in my book. In any case I'm seriously considering revising the mandate of this blog to "Star Wars and more for men old enough to know better". I'm getting more than a little bored of limiting myself to Star Wars.

Boing Boing: Old School Dungeons & Dragons: Wizards of the Coast's problem child

Aussie Star Wars

I don't pretend to understand all of this, but it is funny.

Ian McDiarmid on playing the Emperor in ROTJ

USA Today ran a nice piece late last week on Ian McDiarmid's recollections of playing the Emperor in Return of the Jedi. From the article:

The actor recalls a part of him did make an immediate impression in the initial meeting.

"As I was leaving and just going out the door, George said, 'Oh by the way, great nose.' I thought that was an unusual thing to say, but then I thought maybe that's a good sign. Maybe they need a great nose," McDiarmid says, laughing.

"You can work out why he said that because that was about the only part of my face that was actually left. And of course it peeked out rather nicely from below that black hood. Presumably, they were going to give you a prosthetic one if it hadn't but they got it for free."

USA Today: 'Star Wars' Emperor recalls his first day on the job

Amanda's adventures of the brown muppets

In which a woman who has never seen Star Wars retells its story. 

Lucasfilm asks you to Say No to May the Fourth