NPR's All Things Considered recently ran a story pulled from Action Figure Insider on unused Star Wars merchandise created while the prequels were in development. The story goes that Jason Geyer, a toy developer at a small agency, got the chance to design products for the upcoming Episode One, but because production was so hush-hush, he had to do it while not privy to any info on the film. So Geyer and his team brainstormed......

Photo courtesy of Lucasfilm Ltd Like many fans of the original trilogy, I was relieved that the disaster of the "prequels" mercifully ended after Revenge of the Sith. I can't relate to you the sheer embarrassment I felt when my boyhood hero, Darth Vader--a character to whom I ritualistically sacrificed neighborhood pets as a child!--weakly mewled, "Nooo!" after hearing of his beloved Padme's death. Well, fans of the original trilogy are about to feel......

Jason Williams the Star of 1974 Porn Flick, Flesh Gordon ("not to be confused with the original Flash Gordon") is looking for a Writer to Tell His Story. Aside from being an incredible source for houses, hookers, haikus and everything in between, Craigslist can also a great source of entertainment. Reading through the listings under the personal section, especially "casual encounters" and "missed connections" can serve as a much needed distraction on one of......

a writer's perspective On the heels of last weeks announcement that Warner Brothers would be laying off as many as 1000 people this week, the WGA hosted Employee Solidarity Day at the studio today. All picketers, barring those at NBC, were asked to report to Warner Brothers instead of their usual posts. As a result, my usual gate was the place to be today. I think it was a pretty savvy move on the......

I feel at home at hip hop shows. I am in my element. I am around people who love the same kind of music I love. This past Wednesday night, however, for the first time in my show-going life I was at a hip hop show as an outsider. Nerdcore rap was something that I had only vaguely heard of, all I knew of it was rap with a whole lot of references to......

Read our exclusive LAist interview with G4TV's Olivia Munn to find out how she feels about playing Gay Chicken with Kevin Pereira, living in Los Angeles, and making out with her spray-tan lady...

And the Deathstar is now sustainable.......

Though my allegiance has switched over to the Landmark, many film lovers in Los Angeles regard the Arclight as the best multiplex in town. It programs studio pictures right alongside esoteric indies, it offers great concessions, its screenings are commercial-free and it schedules cool events with celebrated films and filmmakers. This Wednesday, tickets go on sale for one of those very events. In fact, this one may be the coolest in awhile. To celebrate......

We live in a beautiful age for nerds. Just like your favorite superheros, you can never be sure that something is dead. Star Wars returned after 20 years of relative inactivity (though it’s questionable whether or not that was a good idea). Jean Grey, though currently dead, has died in so many forms that it’s impossible to believe she won’t return. You can’t keep popular series like Buffy (or even unfairly unpopular series like......

There's only one network that would dare give you the raspberry: and that's G4TV, who will be premiering episodes of an animated "Spaceballs" this fall - you know, that Star Wars Mel Brooks parody you watched about seventy-six times in the 80's? Variety says: Encompassing a one-hour pilot and 13 half-hour episodes, project represents the first scripted series greenlit by the new TV division at MGM, led by Jim Packer, president of the worldwide......

After covering Wicked Wednesday, I realized that I didn't have to work until later that night. The PR person had said, "Just go wherever you want." I think she meant within the stage area, but I thought I'd wander around a little. The last time I went to Universal Studios they had just gotten Jaws, and they were still doing an avalanche with big cheesy-looking styrofoam boulders. I went on "Back to the Future"......

A review of the Fox Searchlight movie, Sunshine. The movie is directed by Danny Boyle and written by Alex Garland, and stars Cillian Murphy, Chris Evans, Cliff Curtis, Michelle Yeoh, Hiroyuki Sanada, Rose Byrne, Benedict Wong, Troy Garity, and Mark Strong....

You can push them around, cancel their shows and laugh at their outfits until your face turns red... they just keep on Trekking. In the pantheon of rabid fan bases, you'd be hard-pressed to find a legion of fans as loyal as the Trekkies (excepting, of course, the Star Wars crowd). Notwithstanding the one above, you've probably already seen your fair share of Trekkie cosplay pictures, whether from Star Trek conventions, movie openings or......

Ever wondered what Star Wars would look like if it was re-edited to dialogue from Boogie Nights? This trailer offers you a glimpse into a polymorphously perverse remix of the two.......

Saturday we took our two daughters to LACMA to see the Dan Flavin exhibit. Flavin's known as one the of the pioneers of installation art. His sculptures are created from fluorescent bulbs and bathe each room in colorful rays of light. Translated by my kids- that means 'he's really cool!'. As my daughters explored the galleries, they gleefully exclaimed that one piece looked like a light saber while another reminded my three-year-old of a......

Written and photographed for LAist by Cecil Castellucci, author of The Plain Janes and Beige. More pics available here. The force was strong with everyone at Star Wars Celebration IV. There really was a lot to do, which is a quality problem to have at a convention. Besides the Vader Project, which, by the way I am still totally obsessed with I can't say I did much more than walk around, buy a dark side......

Written and photographed for LAist by Cecil Castellucci, author of The Plain Janes and Beige. More pics available here. Yesterday, I went to go check out the action at the LA Convention Center, which is playing host to Star Wars Celebration IV. It was the preview Fan Day for the Official Star Wars Fan Club members. I'm member number one bagazillion. I'm not going to lie. I have a love hate relationship with Star Wars.......

George Lucas is notoriously stringent when it comes to copyright and trademark issues, but it looks like the director has finally realized that remix is the aesthetic of the new millennium, or at least this first decade of it. The Wall Street Journal reported that Lucasfilm is taking approximately 250 clips from the various Star Wars movies and making them available to fans who want to download and use them in Internet mash-ups, re-mixes and......

Although it's probably not true, and if it were, hard to believe, 30 years ago LAist was around 10 years old. And let's pretend that when we were around 10 a movie came that summer out that the newspapers claimed to be "The New Western". Let's also pretend that when you're 10 years old you don't wanna go to any lousy New Western no matter what the tv commercials are showing you - for......

Effective today, you will need more bounce for your outbound ounce. The U.S. Postal Service has raised the cost of a first-class stamp. First-Class® letters: $0.41 (first ounce) $0.17 (each additional ounce) The upshot? Brand spankin’ new Star Wars stamps and envelopes. This is not the bill you're looking for.........

Golden Girl Bea Arthur today celebrates her 85th birthday, and we're celebrating by offering a few clips of Bea doing what she does best, entertaining. Here she is... ...singing for a motley assortment of aliens as the proprietor of an intergalactic bar in the 1978 Star Wars Holiday Special.......

- Dodgers donate $100k to help rebuild Griffith Park - MLB - LA Voice suggests that if there wasn't so much nature in the park, there would have been less of a chance of a fire - LA Voice - Three Glendale schools were locked down this afternoon under fear that a kid had a gun. It turned out to be a pellet gun - CBS2 - Paris Hilton ate corn with me -......

(now imagine this with two suns) China grabbed some headlines the other day showing off their robotic moon probe, but since we’ve already got a couple roving away on another planet, our friends at the Jet Propulsion Labs have been looking into some other things. Like finding planets that orbit around twin stars, called binary systems. The new findings from the Spitzer Space Telescope suggest planets are just as likely to be found around......

With the sun out, the temperatures high, one can only think of one thing: what's going on in the World of the -ists? Bostonist dug deep to uncover Barack Obama's unpaid parking tickets, their Governor's latest ethical lapse, and a plagiarizing sports writer. Chicagoist had everything in twos: two views on having the Olympics, losing two members of their Super Bowl team, and two music festivals. DCist put their noses in legal books as......

- Is LAX really trying to more than double the rent on several low-cost airlines? - Daily News - Speaking of LAX, SkyWest celebrated their 30th anniversary with the airport - Yahoo - Speaking of anniversaries, Little Ethiopia is preparing to celebrate Big Ethiopia's millennium - Nazret - Brandy is being sued by the sons of the woman who died in last year's car crash - AP - The LA Daily News takes a......

A Word or 116: So I missed the first 10 minutes of the Grammys which meant that I missed the effing Police. I punished myself by watching the rest of the Grammys: a collection of posers I will never go see perform and whose songs I've never heard and will never care to hear. 24 is back with a 2 hour allotment but my understanding is that I'm not supposed to watch 24 anymore......

And you thought the fake movie characters in front of the Chinese Theater were harmless? The Times reports: A street performer dressed as Chewbacca from "Star Wars" apparently succumbed to the dark side when he allegedly head-butted a tour guide operator in front of Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles police said today. [...] "You could see him exploding in his mask," Sapir said. "He said, 'Nobody tells this wookie what to do." 6'4"......

- When TomKat, J.Lo, and Marc Anthony all have to cram into the back seat of a Rolls because one of their cars breaks down, the li'l guys sit on the hump - Celebrity Puke - Donald Trump gets his hard-earned star on the walk of fame after his years of innovation on television - ABC - LA has the largest amount of homeless people in the USA - VOA - Ontario and Palmdale......

It seems like most of the better bands and clubs are taking this week off. No offense to those bands who are playing and those clubs that are open, but, come on, we're just keeping it real. Because of that we will show you some video from the Rose Parade. What's interesting from this angle is the speed in which the pace of the parade was truckin' -- and the fact that most of......

Yesterday's Rose Parade was easily one of the best in recent memory. From dragons that breathed fire, to a Louisiana marching band that showed the world what soul was all about, to American Idols singing, to even a dude in a jet pack literally flying down the parade route, it almost felt like everyone knew that they had to knock it up a notch this year because of the Grand Marshal and his invited......