Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

And We Have A Winner!

May 20, 2013

Bob wins the Star Wars Prequel Appreciation Day contest.

Among three entries it was tough, but he pulls it out by making connections with the fewest number of people fastest:

1. Samuel L. Jackson –> Kevin Bacon

Samuel L Jackson was in “Goodfellas” with Robert De Niro. Robert De Niro was in “Sleepers”, with Kevin Bacon.

2. Ewan McGregor –> Jimmy Stewart

Ewan McGregor was in “Valiant” with John Cleese. John Cleese was in “An American Tail: Feivel Goes West” with Jimmy Stewart.

3. Natalie Portman –> Audrey Hepburn

Natalie Portman was in “Garden State” with Ian Holm. Ian Holm was in “Robin and Marian” with Audrey Hepburn.

4. Hayden Christensen –> Sterling Hayden

Hayden Christensen was in “Revenge of the Sith” with James Earl Jones. James Earl Jones was in “Dr. Strangelove” with Sterling Hayden.

5. Liam Neeson –> John Wayne

Liam Neeson was in “The Haunting” with Bruce Dern. Bruce Dern was in “The Cowboys” with John Wayne.

Thanks for playing!

Happy Birthday TPM and ROTS!

May 19, 2013

TPM was released 14 years ago today, May 19, 1999.

ROTS was released 8 years ago today, May 19, 2005.

Introducing the SWPAS Tumblr

May 19, 2013

I still need to tweak it, but here it is! Enjoy.

The Contest

May 19, 2013

Here is this year’s Prequel Appreciation Day contest: Six Degrees Of Prequel Alumni.

The grand prize is a $25 gift card from Amazon.com.

It’s hard to come up with trivia that you can’t just find via Google.
Rules first:

1. Contest is open as of 8:00 a.m. Pacific Standard Time and CLOSES 11:59 p.m. Pacific Standard Time.

2. Contest is open only to those in the U.S. and Canada, otherwise I think the prize is kinda worthless. Sorry international peeps.

3. ENTRIES MUST BE E-MAILED TO SWPASADMIN@GMAIL.COM. DO NOT POST ANSWERS HERE OR ON FACEBOOK.

4. The winner will be the 1) first person to get answers correct AND 2) has the fewest connections. As soon as I figure that out, I will announce the winner ;) . At that point I will contact the winner to mail that person the prize.

Here’s what you have to do. Connect the following prequel stars with the other star, using six people or less. (Look up the Six Degrees Of Kevin Bacon game if you don’t know what I’m talking about.) You can only use people who have acted with your connection, not just dated someone or is married to someone. Also, do not use directors unless the director acted in the film as well. Ditto for producers, composures, visual effects people, etc..

You must do all five of these:

1. Samuel L. Jackson –> Kevin Bacon
2. Ewan McGregor –> Jimmy Stewart
3. Natalie Portman –> Audrey Hepburn
4. Hayden Christensen –> Sterling Hayden
5. Liam Neeson –> John Wayne

I’ve tested them and they all “work.” Good luck!

Happy Prequel Appreciation Day 2013!

May 19, 2013

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Today’s theme is what do you appreciate the most about the prequel trilogy? (I’ve posted the same question on Facebook). My answer is that it gave me another chance to experience the excitement of Star Wars.

Star Wars Prequel Appreciation Day 2013 On Sunday!

May 17, 2013

Sun-day, Sun-day, Sun-day is May 19 and Star Wars Prequel Appreciation Day.

To celebrate, I will invite fans to post on the SWPAS Facebook page what they appreciate the most about the prequel trilogy, or heck, the saga overall. Clone Wars too.

Here, I will post a contest with the grand prize of an Amazon gift card for $25. The details and the rules will be posted on Sunday. It’ll be fun, kinda like a game.

And Sunday will mark the launch of the SWPAS Tumblr, filled with photos, memes, fan art, and other cool stuff. Stay tuned!

Social Media Fail

May 16, 2013

May 16 marks the 11th anniversary of AOTC’s release and how did official social media outlets celebrate?

There was no mention of it at all on Twitter but yesterday the official Star Wars Twitter account mentioned that on May 15, 1977 the NYT or something published the first newspaper ad for ANH’s release. On the official Star Wars Facebook page, they got their facts mixed up. (FYI, ROTS came out May 19, 2005 and debuted at Cannes on May 15.)

Yoda Chronicles I Airs May 29

May 11, 2013

LEGO Star Wars: The Yoda Chronicles debuts on Cartoon Network on May 29 at 8 p.m. EST/PST. The first of three specials starring a LEGO-ized version of Master Yoda is called “The Phantom Clone.” Yes, it takes place during the prequel era. The next two specials will air at later dates.

Maybe ;) .

There’s more info here.

Kenobi Novel Cover Revealed

May 10, 2013

Del Rey revealed through i09 its cover for the upcoming “Kenobi” novel. From the looks of it, it seems like it takes place soon after ROTS. Hopefully there will be lots of angst over Anakin’s turn to the Dark Side and chatting with Qui-Gon! The book drops in August.

How Quickly They Forget

May 10, 2013

Normally I avoid writing about the latest schmuck who’s been throwing shade (SWPAS keeps up on the latest lingo) on our beloved movies but this was such a case of “the irony, it burns” I couldn’t ignore it.

Last Saturday during the faux but lovable holiday May the 4th many celebrities on Twitter issued their own May the 4th greetings. I kept retweeting many of them out of my own amusement. Who knew the likes of Ricky Martin kept up on such things? Some famous faces already did have some connection with the worlds of sf and fantasy, like “Once Upon A Time” star Ginnifer Goodwin or William Shatner. Or PT alum Samuel L. Jackson. Then there was Wil Wheaton, Wesley Crusher on Star Trek: TNG. Wheaton’s post Trek career has consisted in significant part of being a professional geek. I have other reasons why Wheaton gets on my nerves but instead of wishing the cross-town rivals well last Saturday, he tweeted something to the effect of “May the 4th be with you and erase the memories of the prequels from our brains.”

Really, Wheaton?

Flashback, 1989. Old school Star Trek fans battled it out against fans of TNG, claiming the new show sucked and that Roddenberry raped their childhoods. Well, not quite that bad, but it was more or less the same sentiment. Fans fought bitterly over Kirk vs. Picard. OS-only fans didn’t want to count the newer program as “real Trek.” I remember at a con in the ‘90s one older Trek guy told a younger fan in a TNG Starfleet uniform he had the wrong uniform on. I’m not sure if he was kidding around or not.

Flashback, 1994. I went with some friends to a Creation con in downtown Washington, D.C.. It was the Imzadi Tour, with Marina Sirtis and Jonathan Frakes headlining. My friends were big TNG fans while I was more of a casual fan who wanted to see some Trek stars in person and hit the dealer’s room for Star Wars goodies. Anyway, during one of the presentations they ran clips of the show and when Wesley turned up in one of the clips, there were many loud boos. Being a casual watcher of TNG, I had no idea people hated the guy. I missed the memo. And I felt kinda bad even though Wesley isn’t a real person and Wheaton wasn’t present. It struck me as a little mean. Later I learned that Wesley Crusher had become a lightning rod for what people found annoying with the show; even fans of the show simply found him and his earnest brainy ways annoying. He didn’t bother me, though I used to wonder if Beverly Crusher was trying to snag Picard so somebody could pay for her son’s college education. As Sheldon Cooper said many years later on an episode of “The Big Bang Theory,” Wesley Crusher was the Jar Jar Binks of Star Trek.

Wheaton’s stupid dig reminds me of the guy who used to be a nerd in high school and got wedgies from the jocks. Then he got a makeover, worked out, got on the track team, became one of the jocks himself, then started picking on other lesser beings. Oh wait, that’s EXACTLY what happened. Wheaton rehabilitated himself by ingratiating himself with professional geek culture where the kind of people who used to hate him, or more precisely his character 20 years ago, now look to him as a Geek Guru. So he has to like what they like and mock what they mock, forgetting what he had to go through and what the show had to go through all of those years ago.

I guess he exempted himself from his own unofficial motto “don’t be a (d-word).” He may be off of Sheldon’s enemies list but he’s earned a spot on mine!


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