It was suggested to me at work the other day that another employee had “more Lego Star Wars magnet figures” than I had. Anyone who knows me should know these two things: 01. Nobody has more Star Wars crap than I do. 02. If someone claims to have more Star wars crap than I do, they will soon discover that I am not only an idiot, but an idiot with credit cards (one of which has Darth Vader on the front — and no, I’m not kidding). With that I present to you the entire collection of Lego Star Wars… (read more)

Last week I received an e-mail informing me of a “Star Wars Art Show” taking place at a local Vintage Stock location. Star Wars Day events were to include (quoting from the flyer here) “Take Pictures with Star Wars Characters, Star Wars Coloring Table for Kids, Enjoy Frozen Treats from Freddy’s Frozen Custard, and Drawings for Star Wars Prizes.” The show was scheduled to begin at 1pm and end at 4pm. Let me say up front that there’s really no good way to critique a free event without sounding like an ungrateful jerk. I am going to try and be… (read more)

This weekend marked the thirtieth anniversary of both The Empire Strikes Back, and Pac-Man. I don’t know if there’s any significance to a thirtieth anniversary, but it does give me a quick opportunity to talk about two things that impacted my life. I, along with millions of other kids across the world, became enamored with Star Wars at an early age. I was only four-years-old when the original Star Wars debuted, but it took me no time at all to collect all the action figures, playsets, pillow cases and sheets. We have a video tape from Christmas morning, 1978, where… (read more)

Halloween 2009 was a smashing success! Around lunch time, we all sat down to carve Jack-O-Lanterns. Mason found some Star Wars carving templates via Google, which I freehanded onto one of the pumpkins. We winged a second, Stormtrooper Jack-O-Lantern which didn’t turn out quite as nice. Mommy and Morgan carved one pumpkin and they painted a few others. When I was a kid we had one or two pumpkins, max. Here, Susan has an entire pumpkin patch. Eh, pumpkins are cheap. When it was time to trick-or-treat, the whole family showed up at the house. Linda and Doug brought Griffin… (read more)

For my birthday this year, Mom bought me two tickets to go see Star Wars: In Concert. The show is a roughly two-hour concert featuring music from all six Star Wars films, performed live by an orchestra. Mason and I arrived half an hour early to check out what else the travelling tour had brought, and we were not disappointed. The hallways of the Ford Center were filled with authentic props and costumes from all six movies. Mason really got a kick out of seeing all that stuff. C-3P0 Costume This was the largest collection of Star Wars props I’ve… (read more)

Last night when I stopped by Mom’s to pick up the kids, they were watching Return of the Jedi –specifically, the scene when Yoda dies. I remember watching that same scene for the first time in Almonte 6 Movie Theater on May 25, 1993. After Yoda died, disappeared and joined the force, Morgan exclaimed, “Fiyoda’s dead!” She calls him Fiyoda, a combination of Yoda and Fiona (Shrek’s wife). On the way home, that scene launched an impromptu game of 20 questions. “Do people really disappear when they die daddy? Is Fiyoda real daddy? Why does Fiyoda sound like Grover daddy?”… (read more)

Last week, Mason got an e-mail from his grandma informing him of a Star Wars event taking place at the mall. The e-mail was titled “Star Wars: In Concert to take over Penn Square Mall this Saturday!” and the first line read “Limited photo opportunities will be available with members of the 501st Legion in Star Wars costumes.” For those of you who don’t know, the 501st Legion is a world-wide group of Star Wars enthusiasts who make and wear authentic-looking costumes from the movies and often show up for charity appearances or other events. If you happened to catch… (read more)

Link to the Star Wars Dance off. (Had to remove the embedded, wide-screen version — it was killing my site’s formatting!) Sadly, my Jabba the Hutt routine didn’t make the cut.

As I continue hammering out my 2009 resolutions, one thing I cannot decide is what to do with my Star Wars collection. I grew up loving Star Wars. In 1982, my bedroom looked like this: The vast majority of my Star Wars action figures and spaceships survived my childhood and ended up boxed up and packed away. I’ve lugged them from house to house, occasionally unpacking and displaying them but, for the most part, just storing them. In 1995 when the original films were re-released, Star Wars toys flooded stores and I bought everything I could get my hands on.… (read more)

The weekend before last, Susan’s mom informed me that there were would be some Star Wars items up for sale at Danny’s Friday Night Auction. Stephen and I attended the auction, and I came home with a pretty decent haul. Here are the action figures I got. I paid on average about four bucks each — not a great deal, but they were there. The only one I really wanted was the classic figure at the bottom of the picture. The other thing I really wanted was this: The Death Star, complete in the box! Now most of you who… (read more)