So, this is what I'm thinking…

Damned if this movie isn’t starting to look sexy as hell.

Here’s a list of dialog we hear more than once in the Star Wars Saga. Star Wars has many great quotations from any one of the six movies, but we sometimes find threads of dialog woven through more than one movie. They help to tie the films together, and invoke memories of other characters and situations found in other scenes. Some other the lines are almost a trademark of one character, and even though some lines are found in all six movies they aren’t over used to the point of being cheesy.

The Star Wars Saga

“May the Force be with you”

• General Dodonna, during the briefing in A New Hope
• Han Solo, in the Yavin hangar in A New Hope
• Luke Skywalker, to Lando and Chewbacca departing from the medical frigate at the end of The Empire Strikes Back
• Admiral Ackbar says “May the Force be with us, on the bridge of the rebel starcruiser in Return of the Jedi
• Qui-Gon Jinn, to Anakin Skywalker before the start of the Pod Race in The Phantom Menace
• Mace Windu and Yoda, in the Jedi Council Chambers after discussing the possible discovery of a Sith Lord in The Phantom Menace
• Yoda to Qui-Gon, after instructing him to go to Naboo to find the identity of the “dark warrior” encountered on Tatooine in The Phantom Menace
• Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker to each other, after Anakin is given the assignment to accompany Padme to Naboo in Attack of the Clones
• Yoda to Obi-Wan, after discovering that files have been erased from the archives in Attack of the Clones
• Mace Windu says “May the Force be with us all” to the Jedi Council after roles are assigned for the coming battles in Revenge of the Sith
• Yoda to Mace and Obi-Wan aboard the Jedi Gunship in Revenge of the Sith
• Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan to each other, before parting to their assignments on the landing platform in Revenge of the Sith
• Yoda and Obi-wan to each other before parting ways to confront Darth Sidious and Darth Vader in Revenge of the Sith

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this”

• Luke Skywalker upon Obi-Wan Kenobi revealing that they weren’t heading to a small moon but to a space station in A New Hope
• Han Solo, in the trash compactor when Luke Skywalker is released by the Dianoga in A New Hope
• Princess Leia, inside the cave on the asteroid in The Empire Strikes Back
• C-3PO to R2-D2, before being ushered into Jabba’s Palace by Bib Fortuna in Return of the Jedi
• Han Solo, while being placed on top of the Ewok barbecue in Return of the Jedi
• Obi-Wan Kenobi, while waiting to be met by the Trade Federation delegates in The Phantom Menace
• Obi-Wan, while being shat at by Zam Wesell in Attack of the Clones
• Anakin Skywalker, when confronted with three monsters in the execution arena in Attack of the Clones
• Obi-Wan, during the battle above Coruscant in Revenge of the Sith

“A disturbance in the Force”

• Obi-Wan Kenobi, sensing that Alderaan has been destroyed in A New Hope
• The Emperor, while communicating with Darth Vader aboard the Executor in The Empire Strikes Back
• Qi-Gon Jinn, sensing all is not well before boarding the Trade Federation battleship in The Phantom Menace
• Yoda to Mace Windu, while discussing the attack on the Naboo Senator in Attack of the Clones

“We’re Doomed!”

• C-3PO, aboard the Tantive IV in A New Hope
• C-3PO, while escaping the giant space slug aboard the Millennium Falcon in The Empire Strikes Back
• C-3PO, on learning that he and Artoo are to be given as gifts to Jabba the Hutt in Return of the Jedi

“It’s not my fault!”

• Han Solo, twice to Princess Leia after finding that the Millennium Falcon will not make the jump to lightspeed to escape the Imperial Star Destroyers in The Empire Strike Back
• Lando Calrissian, to Princess Leia after finding that the Millennium Falcon will not make the jump to lightspeed to escape the Imperial Star Destroyers in The Empire Strike Back
• Han Solo, explaining to Jabba the Hutt that he got a little side tracked while on the way to pay him back in Return of the Jedi

“I’m going to regret this”

• C-3PO when boarding the escape pod in A New Hope
• Leia, “You’re going to regret this” to Jabba the Hutt before he kisses her in Return of the Jedi

“I love you.” “I know.”

• Han Solo to Princess Leia before being frozen in carbonite in The Empire Strikes Back
• Leia to Solo while being cornered by Imperial troops at the Endor bunker in Return of the Jedi

“Not entirely stable”

• C-3PO, “Sir, it’s quite possible this asteroid is not entirely stable” to Han Solo while in the asteroid cave in The Empire Strikes Back
• C-3PO, “I’m not sure this floor is entirely stable” while being introduced by Anakin to Padme in The Phantom Menace

“Where the fun begins”

• Han Solo, “Here’s where the fun begins!” after taking off from Tatooine in A New Hope
• Anakin Skywalker, “This is where the fun begins.” during the battle above Coruscant in Revenge of the Sith

“You assume too much”

• Nute Gunray to Padme Amidala in The Phantom Menace
• Padme to Qui-Gon in The Phantom Menace

A couple new Tron posters, suitable for dual screen wallpapers!

Also some hi-res movie posters, including an international version which looks great.

We had an impromptu session 0f charades during dinner the other night, in response to the question of what we could do for family home evening the next time it rolled around. I’m surprised that we haven’t actually done charades in our family, but also surprised that the kids didn’t know what it was at all. I can’t believe that they hadn’t done it at school before. So, to prepare them for our family night we explained some of the rules of charades. They got the idea that you have to act out something without using words. We tried to make it as easy as possible by choosing some examples of movies we own or they had recently seen, such as Edward Scissorhands and The Karate Kid. Jett said he wanted a go and decided that his movie was 4 words. He made many gyrations and actions and it turns out that his movie was “Helicopter Running Robot Dog”. It must be the new Pixar movie or something. Ashton tried “Labyrinth” by walking around in random directions and searching which was a good try but a very difficult one.

I decided to test Suzanne, and there was also the off chance that the kids would get it too. I wanted to do Michael Jackson.

I figured the easiest way to convey “Michael Jackson” was to invoke his best and most well loved dance routine from Thriller.

Look, I’m not Michael Jackson. I realise this. I a fat, balding, middle aged white guy with little to no coordination or artistic credibility. But I did a pretty damned good Zombie Dance from the Thriller music video, including most if not all of the most easily identifiable dance steps. But could Suzanne get it? She just pointed and laughed and started thinking up random words and names which had absolutely nothing to do with thriller or Michael Jackson. The kids could be forgiven because they weren’t around in the 80s or 90s, but surely Suzanne knew what she was looking at.

Eventually, with a bit of humming and whistling, it was Ashton who finally got it. I really don’t know what was going on in Suzanne’s head. Heaven help us in our next FHE.

There are many, many laws having nothing to do with government that are useful to know because they tell you something about how the universe works. There are Newton’s laws of motion, the laws of thermodynamics, Boyle’s Law, Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle, among many. Most of these laws have been known for a long time, but it wasn’t until a mere 19 years ago that Godwin’s Law was written.

Via Geek Dad

So there’s an article on news.com.au about today being celebrated as “Back to the Future” day, but it turns out that it’s all wrong or a hoax or somesuch. Doc Brown programs the world’s most stylish time machine to visit the future by setting a specific date. But whoever started this bandwagon got the date wrong. Instead of 5-July-2010 it should be 21-Oct-2015. I’ve already got this queued as a future blog entry so check back in five years. Hehe.

Anyhow, Back to the Future got a number of things wrong. Not in the least hoverboards. I want my hoverboard! But it also failed to predict western society’s unquenchable thirst for the elixir from the fountain of youth. Pure, unadulterated Botox. Compare a 47 year old Marty McFly to a 49 year old Michael J. Fox

How could Robert Zemeckis have known that in the future we’d all look like RealDolls. At least those who we look up to most, those who would be our role models: Celebrities.

One is a Marvel Superhero, one is a kid with a mask and the other is a command.

Yeah, slow news day. Been sick all weekend.

Wow, I haven’t been paying attention and these kinda snuck up on me. Pacman turns 30 today! Pacman was developed by Namco and released in Japan on 22-May-1980. Wow, has it been that long? I don’t want to consider how may 20s I dropped into coin-ops in the early 80s playing it, avoiding Pinky, Inky, Blinky and Clyde. Pacman came at a time when the most popular arcade games were shooters like Space Invaders and Asteroids, so it came as a welcome non-violent alternative and grew in popularity. Everything about the game was cool: the high-contrast colours, the wocka-wocka sounds, the intro music… it really was the perfect game for it’s time. To celebrate, Google even changed their header logo into a playable version of Pacman for the day. You’ve got to be in Classic Google mode, not iGoogle. I remember saving all my pocket money to buy this on the Atari, but was so disappointed to find that it really sucked.

Another 30th anniversary this week was the release of The Empire Strikes Back. After being blown away by Star Wars three years earlier, it came as a surprise to me that there was another movie released. Remember, these are the days before the Internet and discussions forums, preview web sites and such. I didn’t know about it until it actually came out  in Australia, which was a few months after the US release and even then I don’t think I saw it until a few weeks after than. Empire is still the best of the movies. I might see if I can fit it in sometime this weekend, perhaps on VHS for the low-fi experience, the way George Lucas intended.

Meanwhile, here’s a Periodic Table of The Empire Strikes Back.

Click for larger version

Been away for the weekend. I need to get myself organised before I post anything substantial. So in the meantime, Happy Star Wars Day! I hope to fit in watching the Original Trilogy before bed time

For a friend who asked me if I could find some decent sized walls, I thought y’all might enjoy these too.