A student in Maryland decided to have dinner with his roommate, literally:

http://www.cnn.com/2012/05/31/justice/maryland-alleged-cannibal/index.html?hpt=hp_t3

(Warning: This post and links are NOT for the faint-hearted)

First we have the bizarre and appalling (though as a Miami native, not entirely surprising to me) cannibal attack by a guy hepped up on "bath salts" and possibly under a voodoo spell:

http://miami.cbslocal.com/2012/05/31/girlfriend-recalls-rudy-eugenes-final-day/

It’s entirely feasible that zombies could migrate their way north in time for Celebration VI. And if anyone buys “bath salts” from the local Elan Sleazebaggano, just remember, I may very well have to shoot you. I’m not letting some fanboy or worse yet, a Celebration guest, eat my face, thank you very much.

But another zombie incident took place in New Jersey shortly thereafter, where a guy cut out his intestines and tossed them at the cops:

http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/05/31/zombie-alert-man-throws-his-own-intestines-at-police/

And now there's this sick bastard who sent severed body parts to a political HQ in Canada, now on the lam for being a murder suspect involving a snuff movie that included cannibalism. His previous claim to fame was killing kittens. Seriously, this story could give you nightmares. Proceed with caution:

http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/05/31/luka-rocco-magnottas-family-awaiting-call-from-suspect-as-interpol-joins-manhunt/

If you'll excuse me, I'm picking up some gas masks and artillery before I hide out in my "Doomsday Preppers" shelter.

Sorry, wrong song ;).

The very first Star Wars film was unleashed upon the world 35 years ago today with all of the subtlety of a nuclear bomb. Oh sure, "they" didn't expect much from it but the people proved "them" wrong. In an era long before Twitter or Facebook, word got around very quickly that "Star Wars" (it wasn't ANH until 1979) was something special. The underlying story and themes were older than dirt but there was still nothing quite like it before or, even in our blockbuster-saturated age, since. There hasn't been any other movie within my lifetime that really affected people and the culture in a permanent way like this one did.

I first heard about the movie shortly before it came out from my dad. I wanted to see "Carrie"--a movie a little too big for my 7-year-old britches--but my dad said, "You're too young to see that. We'll see Star Wars; it's coming out soon." Oh okay, whatever.

Then I saw the advance ads in the newspaper and found the novelization in the bookstore, the kind they used to have with movie photos in the middle of the paperback. I looked through the pictures--I didn't actually look at the text for some reason--and seriously, I thought Obi-Wan was Leia's dad or something. I figured the gist of it was some princess is abducted and all of these people were out to go rescue her.

The good news was a theater in town was one of the lucky 32 screens to get the film opening day (Valley Circle, R.I.P.). The bad news was it was one of the lucky 32 screens to get the film opening day. Everybody from miles and miles around descended upon the theater, creating huge lines visible from the freeway. My parents concocted a plan to see the film during the week, pulling my brother and I out of school for a "doctor's appointment." This taught me a valuable lesson: Star Wars is more important than anything, including school. (Three years later, I skipped CCD to see TESB; let's hope God is in a good mood on Judgment Day.)

There still was a line on that June day in 1977, but we only had to wait one show to see the film. I'll never forget what a carnival it was, complete with people hawking homemade buttons and a lady trying to cast kids for a commercial. The funny part was my dad, on hooky from work, ran into somebody else from his office. Heh heh.

When we got home, the first thing my brother and I did was draw all of the characters. We couldn't remember everybody's name!

So started the madness that afflicts me to this day.

The Star Wars crime spree continues...how long before politicians call for a crackdown?

http://www.wlwt.com/news/31107774/detail.html

Star Wars needs to renounce geek culture.

That might strike you as a bit weird, as though I’m saying we need to cut ourselves off from oxygen or gravity. Isn’t Star Wars part of the geeky universe after all? How could it possibly divorce itself from the worlds of comics, collectibles, cons, and cosplaying? It just isn’t possible!

Well, I’m not saying Dark Horse needs to stop publishing and far be it from me to suggest I wouldn’t want a Star Wars presence at Comic Con. God forbid! But I’ve recently come to the conclusion that “geek” and “Star Wars” aren’t necessarily synonymous and indeed, they shouldn't be.

Sure, Star Wars was the first film marketed at Comic Con and it was marketed at Worldcon 1976 in Kansas City. But ultimately it has turned out to be an ill-fated partnership. It was geek culture that turned on the series and on Lucas. It dictated what fans and casual viewers alike are supposed to think about it. Because geek culture drives the media these days, the attacks on half the saga and on Lucas have been relentless and effective. (And regular moviegoers made ANH a hit, not the couple hundred people at Comic Con 1976.)

That isn’t to say Star Wars isn’t popular. But it’s popular with two kinds of people: loyal fans like me and Minivan Nation. Families with kids. The kind of people whose opinions aren’t as likely to be shaped by geek culture. Besides, regular moviegoers made Star Wars the megahit and cultural touchstone. Geeks create small devoted cults. The rest of the world picks the big winners.

But old habits die hard and it seems like up until the present, there’s a persistent need to try and keep Star Wars relevant among professed geeks. I think Lucasfilm is totally wasting its time with them.

For one thing, geeks are conformists of the worst kind. “Independent thought” doesn’t make you popular on geek sites. Voice a different opinion from "geek orthodoxy" and they will come down on you like a ton of bricks to punish you for your heresy. Why is that? I think it’s because there are a lot of very insecure people behind those oh-so-clever screennames. After a while it becomes learned behavior that if you deviate, others start to hate.

Geekdom is fickle and driven by hype. They are like the fair weather sports fans who only get on the bandwagon if the team’s heading to the Super Bowl or World Series. They like to be part of the cheering crowd of fellow geeks. They want to be where the cool kids are. Right before the Special Editions came out, there seemed to be an awful lot of Star Wars fans. I can also remember a lot of the same people who camped out for two months prior to TPM opening and went to see it several times over the summer quickly vamoosed once the backlash was underway. Why? Again, insecurity. On to the next hyped feature! These people often change their minds on what they consider cool or acceptable. They have lots of passion but they also have the attention span of that dog in “Up.” While looking at the Geek Mom blog on its Star Wars week, someone posted that Star Wars was as dated and kitschy as an Elvis impersonator. Yeah, those people are loyal!

Heroes die hard and almost never regain respect. When you’re on top in Geek World, you could be making Zeus clean your toilet on Mt. Olympus. Many geeks are not religious but geek heroes are as close as they will ever get to worshipping a god. But boy oh boy, displease your audience and you’ll fall further than Lucifer ever did. They take disappointment very personally and will never, ever forgive you for it.

Star Wars needs to establish itself independent of geek culture, a modern mythology accessible to everyone. If geek nation happens to like it, fine. If not, oh well. Disney has a large number of diehard fans and collectors, but they’re not necessarily part of geek culture. “The Wizard of Oz” continues to have a following after 73 years without the approval of Gizmodo, i09, and AICN. I don't have a plan on how to make it happen except to say instead of focusing on geeks, focus on everybody else.

Recently, Rick McCallum sat down to a video interview with IGN. Topics discussed include the live action show (still plan to do it, still costs too much), a Star Wars theme park (not happening, bummer), Joe Johnston/fanboy nation's Boba Fett movie pipe dream, and George Lucas planning his next move. Sadly, nothing about AOTC 3D, I guess.

But bring up the mysterious "Star Wars 1313," the interview's suddenly over. As you might have seen elsewhere, Lucasfilm recently bought up a bunch of URLs having to do with "Star Wars 1313."

I do NOT think it's a Boba Fett movie, but as to what it is, you got me.

http://www.ign.com/videos/2012/05/20/rick-mccallum-star-wars-tv-show-still-coming

That's right, the Emperor himself is paying a little visit to Celebration VI:

http://www.starwars.com/news/ian_mcdiarmid_at_celebration_vi.html

Now, THIS is how Celebration can step up its game! I already got McDiarmid's autograph through his recent signing session with Official Pix, so I won't need to spend three days in line for it. But oh, you bet your sweet Sidious I will be in line to catch one of his chat sessions (let's hope there's more than one). This will be his first stateside Celebration appearance.

No word on whether he'll arrive via Imperial shuttle.

http://lazypadawan.dreamwidth.org/1028.html

Bonnie Burton Tweeted today that she has lost her job at Lucasfilm after working there nine years. She was one of the content editors of starwars.com and wrote or co-wrote a couple of books having do to with arts and crafts. Burton posted a lot of crafts projects on starwars.com and the blog. She did all of the fan "celeb" interviews. She was also heavily involved with running prior Celebrations.

I knew something was up when the blog was "suspended" recently for "renovations." According to some replies to Bonnie's Tweet, she had known for at least a couple of weeks she was losing her job.

There seems to be an awful lot of downsizing going with Lucasfilm and Star Wars lately. As previously noted, Steve Sansweet retired as Fan Relations guy and nobody replaced him. The Shop closed last year. Hyperspace was shut down. Content is pretty sparse these days if you can find it with starwars.com's damnable navigation. Maybe the lousy economy has affected Lucasfilm's bottom line and they're cutting costs like everyone else. Maybe this is just changing the team once put together to promote new movies, which we aren't getting anymore. Maybe they want to change the tone of "official" fandom and go in another direction (look for my coming rant, "Why Star Wars Needs To Renounce Geek Culture"). Oh who am I kidding?

There were things Burton did and others at starwars.com did that I didn't like and maybe things did need some shaking up. But I also know she was responsive to fans and it must really, really SUCK to not only lose your job but lose a job anyone would kill to get. Lots of luck to her in the future.

http://lazypadawan.dreamwidth.org/588.html