While anything and everything Star Wars seems to be gradually funneling towards Orlando as we draw ever closer to CV, Star Wars still manages to pop up in numerous places...







Jerry Cantrell, of one of my personal favorite bands Alice in Chains, likens their new album Black Gives Way to Blue to Star Wars in a recent interview with ArtistDirect.com.

"Hopefully soon...if Black Gives Way to Blue were a movie or a combination of movies what would it be?

Jerry Cantrell: That's a tough one. I'm gonna go with Star Wars: A New Hope. The first line of the album is, "Hope, A new beginning." You've got hope. The credits for Star Wars start out with at least one word in common [Laughs]. It has to be Star Wars!"




GMANews.tv highlights the good works of the 501st Legion and the Phillipine Outpost in particular.




Star Wars fan Paul Bussiere made one heck of an R2-D2 replica based on a dare from a friend. What makes this more impressive though is that he regularly takes R2 to the Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, Maine to visit sick children. Click here for a nice write-up and video at WHDH.com.
(Thanks Tom!)




The Official Starwars.com Blog displays some street art by Zed1 that's titled, "All You Need is Love." Click on the image above for the full view.




Sarah Smiley at The Times Record has written a nice article that may hit close to home with parents as their Star Wars-loving children get older. What was once an all-out Star Wars household is now shifting to other franchises and Sarah thinks her embrace of the Dark Side may have contributed to the change.




We congradulate Manja Pieters for earning her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, majoring in film, from Canterbury University. While educational achievement is impressive in its own right, accepting your degree in full Stormtrooper armor is just freaking great! Read a little about Manja at Stuff.co.nz.




Max Fisher at The Atlantic Wire asks the age old question, "Are Jedi Knights Libertarian or Socialist?"
(via SW.com)




TFN reader Grant from Texas stumbled onto the screencap comic Darths & Droids while surfing the net and asked if we could spread the word to fellow Star Wars fans who may not be aware of it. Consider it done!
(Thanks Grant!)




Looks like more weapons in development are getting compared to our favorite franchise. From The Times of India:

"Move aside Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker, DRDO is trying to develop its own set of Star Wars-like weapons. From laser dazzlers to control rioting crowds to high-powered lasers to destroy incoming missiles, DRDO is working on a slew of directed energy weapons (DEWs).

"Lasers are weapons of the future. We can, for instance, use laser beams to shoot down an enemy missile in its boost or terminal phase,'' said DRDO's Laser Science & Technology Centre (LASTEC) director Anil Kumar Maini, talking to TOI on Monday.

Incidentally, DRDO chief V K Saraswat himself has identified DEWs, along with space security, cyber-security and hypersonic vehicles, as focus areas in the years ahead. "LASTEC has the mandate to develop DEWs for armed forces,'' said DRDO's chief controller (electronics & computer sciences) R Sreehari Rao.

While conventional weapons use kinetic or chemical energy of missiles or other projectiles to destroy targets, DEWs decimate them by bombarding with subatomic particles or electromagnetic waves at the speed of sound. Apart from the speed-of-light delivery, laser DEWs cause minimal collateral damage."

Click here for more details.
(Thanks Tom!)




While appearing at San Diego Comic-Con to promote her upcoming film, Red, actress Helen Mirren mused that she should have attended in costume:

?I wish I had dressed up now,? she said. ?I could have come as R2-D2 because I liked him. He was cute.?

?Or maybe I could dress as Harrison Ford ? but that maybe isn't the done thing.?

You can read the full source article over at MusicRooms.net.




Pop Candy at USAToday.com wants to make sure we're aware of 4 Star Wars items that we all apparently need "immediately."





Flash mobs are fun, but Star Wars flash mobs are better! Members of the 501st and Rebel Legion did their best to promote the 2nd Annual Wilkes Library Con in North Carolina as well as next week's Celebration V. Check out the video below from FoxCharlotte.com: (via the Official SW.com Blog)