Fan Films, Wookiee Shoot & More

Fan Films
Yesterday was the 3rd Annual Official Star Wars Fan Film Awards (or TAOS-WaFFA for short). There are some great ones in there; be sure to check it out. Also, if you haven't done so already, be sure to watch the excellent Star Wars Gangsta Rap -- and then, watch the all new Special Edition! They're amazing.

The TAOS-WaFFA took place at Comic-Con, which is a great big gathering with a great big Star Wars presence. Check out the link for all the official stuff from the official site.

Wookiee Shoot
This July 26-29, there's going to be a Wookiee shoot for Episode III. I'm really excited about the whole Wookiee aspect of the final Star Wars; not only do we get to see Kashyyyk (their home planet), we get to see great big fighting warrior wookiees! Yippee!

StarWars.com Hyperspace subscribers will be able to watch the shoot live online on the Episode III webcam. Unfortunately, we'll be on vacation at Taconnet during that time (we're leaving bright & early tomorrow -- read more here), but hopefully I'll be able to log on to watch at least a bit.

And More
I've been working a lot on the Star Wars aspect of my web site recently. In the near future, look for a new design, more reviews of Star Wars stuff, and tighter integration between this blog and my Star Wars site.

Also, as you might have read above, we're leaving tomorrow for Taconnet. I'll have plenty of reading time while there, so I hope to finish at least 4 more Star Wars books in that month. That's one a week -- wish me luck! (I haven't quite finished Edge of Victory I - Conquest, but I'm really close, so maybe that one shouldn't count.)

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Well, that's all folks. I'll pretty much be out of contact for the next month, but if I'm lucky maybe I'll get a chance to update this. Aloha!

Insider 77: I got it!

Today I received a very special piece of mail: the Star Wars Insider #77, which is the first Insider I've gotten! WAHOO!!! It has some absolutely amazing new pictures from Episode III in it, not to mention a new short story by Timothy Zahn (one of the best-ever Star Wars writers).

I actually first saw the pictures just last night, when StarWars.com updated with the new "online supplement" to Insider 77. I've already read a bunch of it, but I'm trying to save most of it for the long ride up to Taconnet. Boy, it'll be hard to hold off that long! I've already read a lot.

Adios, amigos!

Art of Episode III

The Official Site just updated with an awesome preview of the Art of Episode III book, coming April 2. Take a look at that cover art!
 
Meanwhile, TheForce.net has a nice preview of what Insider #77 has in store. Looks like there are some amazing new Episode III pictures! Supposedly Insider 77 ships on the 22nd, but some people are already getting it. I sure hope I get it by the time we go to Taconnet (24th)!!!
 
In other news, I've just started Edge of Victory I: Conquest. Hopefully it'll be another good one! :-)

Revised Read Schedule

Yesterday we took a little trip to Barnes & Noble and got three new books: Medstar I, Edge of Victory II: Rebirth and Star by Star. Unfortunately, they didn't have The Cestus Deception, which will throw off my attack plan a bit.
 
Previously, the plan had been to attack 100% on the Clone Wars front in order to try to get all those books finished before Episode III (as well as Labyrinth of Evil, which is the sort of lead-in book to Episode III and isn't technically a Clone Wars book, though it certainly takes place during that time).
 
However, due to the fact that B&N didn't have TCD (hehe... abbreviations galore!), I'll have to delay the attack on the Clone Wars front a bit. I suppose I'll read Edge of Victory I, and by then perhaps TCD will be available.
 
So, I'll save the New Jedi Order for after the Clone Wars stuff, and Splinter of the Mind's Eye I'll probably save until after I finish the NJO. Or perhaps I'll just read it if I ever feel like a break from the NJO.
 
I still have to fit in Survivor's Quest and Tatooine Ghost, though. However, I've decided to continue to ignore (for now) those little stragglers I left behind in my sweep through the Classic & New Republic era EU. Online people were discussing the worst SW books ever, and -- amazingly -- virtually every book I've skipped was on there. Even more amazingly, virtually none I have read were on there! Yippee!
 
So, I suppose I'll save those for some later date.
 
Also on the SW publishing horizon is the completion of Timothy Zahn's Thrawn Septology (which will be a prequel-era book), a six-book series taking place during the Old Republic, and a post-NJO trilogy. I can't wait! I'm finally actually catching up to Star Wars publishing! :-)
 
In Other News
 
I'm still, of course, eagerly awaiting the release of the original trilogy on DVD. Rumors abound that still more changes have been made. I, for one, wouldn't mind, though I know many SW fans would. In my opinion, Jabba in ANH, the whole Han/Greedo faceoff and OT lightsaber work seems especially ready for a little touch-up. (Ironically, both Jabba and the Greedo incident need touch-up work as a result of the Special Edition. How odd.)
 
I've also heard that Naboo will be added to the ending of ROTJ. That could be interesting, and would really tie together the whole series even more. Since Naboo is the location of the Emperor's private retreat during the OT, it would be interesting to see what had changed in about 30 years.
 
Of course, one of the longest-circulating rumors is that a shot of Bail Organa on Alderaan just before it goes ka-boom would be added. That could be really interesting, especially since we would get to see what Alderaan really looks like for the first time ever. (Perhaps it'll be in Episode III, though... who knows...)
 
On the OT DVD bonus disc is a playable demo of Star Wars Battlefront. I'm really looking forward to that, too, since Battlefront is shaping up to be an amazing game. Republic Commando also looks great, especially the Wookiees. We'll have to wait a bit longer for that one, but I'm guessing it'll be worth it!
 
That's all for now, folks. Thanks for reading. Adios!

Balance Point and Future Reading

I'm just finishing up New Jedi Order: Balance Point. It's good!

Next up in the queue is Splinter of the Mind's Eye, which I overlooked in my sweep through the books in (roughly) chronological order. After that, on to NJO: Edge of Victory I - Conquest. Frighteningly, I actually have no Star Wars material to read after that!

Once I get them, I'll continue the New Jedi Order, but I'll be interspersing that with a little newer Clone Wars material. I'll probably at least complete the Edge of Victory duology first, but before Star by Star I think I'll read The Cestus Deception. After SBS, I'll go on to the Medstar duology, and then return to NJO for a book or two, then go back to Jedi Trial and Dark Rendezvous to round off the Clone Wars content.

But wait! What about Tatooine Ghost and Survivor's Quest, the two books that have popped up in between by two fronts of Star Wars reading, Clone Wars and NJO? I'll have to fit them in there, somewhere, too...

After finishing the NJO and all that, though, I might be in a bit of trouble. Of course, more books will be coming out all the time, but what about those other novels that have slipped through the cracks due to my relative lack of interest?

There's the Bounty Hunter Wars trilogy, Children of the Jedi, Planet of Twilight, The Crystal Star, and The New Rebellion in the New Republic era. There's the Han Solo trilogy, the Han Solo Adventures and the Adventures of Lando Calrissian a little closer to the Classic Trilogy era. Along the links of Splinter of the Mind's Eye, there's Shadows of the Empire. Then there's the whole Jedi Apprentice, Jedi Quest, and Boba Fett series, Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter, Cloak of Deception, and Legacy of the Jedi in the prequel era. Oh, and I can't forget the Junior Jedi Knights series, which I started but never finished, or the Galaxy of Fear books, or that "Glove of Darth Vader" series.... The problem is, I'm not all that interested in any of that. What to do!?!?!?

On a fairly unrelated note, I think it would be pretty interesting if LucasBooks republished every Star Wars book ever made, with one standard format (at least somewhat standard; of course, creativity is still encouraged!). Each book would have a full timeline at the beginning, proper era designations and an updated map of the galaxy up front. Perhaps the galaxy map could have an inset focusing on the key areas in that particular book.

Then, they could re-do the whole Essential Guide series. It couldn't be the New Essential Guide -- they already started doing that without waiting for Episode III, the completion of the NJO, or for the Clone Wars to play out. How about "The Ultimate Guide"? Sounds good to me. Each one of those could have an even more improved, full-color, complete, fold-out galaxy map in the front.

And then, DK's excellent series of cross-section books could be expanded to cover the Expanded Universe. Sure, that's kind of what the Ultimate Guides would be for, but DK's series could basically take a slice out of those books and expand upon that slice. I'd love to see an "Inside the Worlds of the Expanded Unverse" featuring Centerpoint Station, a Yuuzhan Vong worldship, Thrawn's fortress on Nirauan and more!

Well, that's all for now. Sorry I couldn't write a very long entry today... I must be off to dinner! ;-)