Tag: Star Wars

Posted on
by

So, we’ve got a title for Star Wars VII.

*yawn*

Pun not intended, but it is now.

Star Wars has a long history of cheesy titles, starting with, well, “STAR WARS.” But this one just doesn’t give you any sense of what the movie is going to be about.

I: The Phantom Menace – Some sort of hidden threat, but then we also knew it would be about young Darth Vader. Safe bet that the menace is the Emperor getting started.
II: Attack of the Clones – Exactly what it says on the tin.
III: Revenge of the Sith – Ditto.
IV: A New Hope – Kind of vague, but by the time this title was tacked on, everyone on the planet had already seen the movie when it was just called “Star Wars,” which told you right off the bat it would be about wars in space.
V: The Empire Strikes Back – Exactly what it says on the tin.
VI: Return of the Jedi – Well, symbolically anyway, but we knew they’d at least have to resolve the Han cliffhanger and set up Luke as a Jedi Knight.

The Force Awakens? That could be about anything.

Maybe that’s the point. JJ Abrams likes his secrets. So does George Lucas, for that matter. And let’s face it: This is the first live-action Star Wars movie in ten years, and it reunites the original cast on screen for the first time in thirty. Nobody really cares what it’s called: it could be “Star Wars VII: The Search for More Money” and those of us who grew up on the original trilogy would still go out and see it opening weekend.

Just not at a midnight showing. We’re getting too old for that sort of thing.

On a side note: I find it interesting that ten years ago, Lucasfilm announced the Epsiode III title at Comic-Con and had T-shirts ready on the floor. This year, Disney announced the title on Twitter.

Posted on
by

Since I work near the Century/Aviation intersection where Metro is planning to build a light rail station, I’ve been watching the demolition of the old bridge with some interest. The northern rise is pretty much obliterated now. The southern section is down to a single wall.

bridgewall

Here’s what it looked like three weeks ago, for comparison.

bridge-tunnel

Let’s take another look at that graffiti at the top of the wall:

bridge-graffitti

Not only do we have “Endor,” and “Death” (spelled funny) in a lettering style reminiscent of the Indiana Jones logo…I swear someone wrote “Ewok” off to the right. Or at least “EW[head]K,” which amounts to the same thing.

Posted on
by

Circular window with concentric circles and spokes, seen from below and to one side.

Partway down the central escalator at the San Diego Convention center, you can look down the long cylindrical skylight that makes up the roof of the lobby, rings forming the appearance of concentric circles. Years ago, a friend of mine referred to it as the Death Star Cannon shot, and it’s a popular one to take, both during Comic Con and at other events.

Looking along a long, semi-open tube in a building, with the Comic-Con banner in the center.

At this year’s Comic-Con International, I found myself looking at the windows surrounding the stairs instead. My first thought was to mix things up with the classic cannon shot, but when I got home and looked at the results, I realized: This really does resemble the windows in the Emperor’s throne room. It’s still a Death Star shot, but a different part of the station!

If you’d like to see more photos or read more about my experience at the convention, check out I Survived Comic-Con 2013.