Whether it’s your first or your fifth time, Star Wars Celebration, an annual Star Wars convention this year held in Orlando, Florida, the enormous amount of things to do and see can be overwhelming. Here are a few highlights that are definite must-sees!

One Man Star Wars
Charles Ross returns to Celebration to perform his one man show, “The One Man Star Wars Trilogy”. Ross uses no props and no instruments, only his voice, to create a fun and unique take on episodes IV, V, and VI.

Troop-athon Races
Troop-athon races returns for an event that is sure to have helmets rolling! The 501st Legion Troop-athon is a friendly competition between armored fans from all over the galaxy. The competition includes Ewok tossing, a Segway race, and a list of other challenges set up to test the soldiers’ skills and ability to perform in armor!

Bounty Hunt
The Bounty Hunt is a chance for you and your friends to prove yourself to the Bounty Hunters Guild! Players are given clues to solve, with the clues increasing in difficulty as they advance. Celebration V is your hunting grounds, and marks are given varying Credit amounts on their heads depending on difficulty.

Props Strikes Back
For the first time in the United States, Stefan Cembolista and the Belgian Star Wars prop crew will be presenting their replica collection for all to see! Some of the replicas on display include a full scale wampa, a 1:6 scale AT-AT, a Speederbike in front of a life-size Endor bunker, a life-size Snowspeeder, which you can get inside, a 1:6 scale X-Wing fighter, and MUCH more! They will also have a full scale TIE Interceptor, the first of this size to be built! And yes, they are even letting fans get in the cockpit!

Echo Base Diorama
As a Celebration regular, Frank D’lorio is back at Celebration to build a giant diorama of Echo Base with the help of fans! Echo Base was chosen to commemorate the 30th anniversary of The Empire Strikes Back. Hasbro has made a generous donation of action figures and vehicles, and D’lorio set up an action figure donation fund for those who may not have their own action figures. Each fan gets to take home a piece of the diorama on the last day of the show!

My Star Wars Story
The Stories Project is asking fans to share their experience of Star Wars through video! They will have cameras set up so that any fan can have their 15 minutes of nostalgia and fandome videotaped for Lucasfilms.

Get Tattooed Live
The Star Wars tattoo program is back with a bold new feature! Instead of simply displaying body art, they will have almost 20 tattoo artists present, ready to give fans the ultimate memento; getting tattooed live! They will also have a display called The Empire Skates Back, a series of Star Wars themed skateboard decks, presented by Shane Turgeon, author of The Force in the Flesh. The decks will be auctioned off for the Celebration Make A Wish charity.

Last Tour of Endor
Star Tours at Disney’s Hollywood Studios is powering down temporarily to make way for the new Star Wars 3-D attraction coming in 2011, and they’re sending it off with a Death Star bang! The event promises to be the largest private party held at a Celebration to date. The party takes place “after hours”, from 8 pm to 1 am, and features exclusive merch, Disney characters dressed as Star Wars characters, a stunning fireworks show, a special edition of “Hyperspace Hoopla”, and more!

These events and many, many more make for a fun filled adventure any Star Wars fan can enjoy! For more information visit http://www.starwarscelebration.com/

At E3 this weekend, Kinect for Xbox 360 (formally known as Project Natal) announced that one of their first games will be a Star Wars title. For those who don’t know, Kinect is the 360’s camera based motion-sensing add-on, to be released in November.

Very little information was given about the game, though the demo video was said to look very much like The Force Unleashed. The video showed a male Jedi fighting waves of droids and stormtroopers using a lightsaber and the Force. The Jedi deflected blaster shots, used power-slides to move, and even used the environment to his advantage before Darth Vader showed up. The video ended in a duel between the two.

Kinect uses bodily motions rather than remote motions like the Wii. The player, or “actor”, uses movements to control what the character does, using their arms, legs, and whole body. Despite the lack of hard facts thus far, the game shows a lot of promise. The game is said to be released sometime in 2011.

There are literally thousands of parody songs about Star Wars out there. There is no way I could review them all and decide which are “best”, so I decided just to feature five songs that I personally really like. [Ed: We did one with The Beatles’ song Yesterday many years ago.]

5. “Jedi Drinking Song” by John Ryan of the Dust Rhinos
I’m a big fan of Celtic style drinking songs, so of course this one caught my ear. Its a funny little tune about drinking a little too much and finding yourself trying to become a Jedi.
Favorite line: “I looked that puppet in the eye and said give me the test”

4. “We Didn’t Start The Star Wars” by Mikey Squirrel
This parody is as catchy as the song its tuned to. While its mostly just a list of characters, planets, and other aspects of Star Wars, there are little jokes thrown in. The rhyming is really clever, and the video is fun to watch.
Favorite line: “We didn’t start the Star Wars, no we didn’t dream them but we went and seen them”

3. “Yoda” by Weird Al Yankovic
Weird Al Yankovic is the king of parody songs, so it would be rude not to mention him here. Weird Al actually does three Star Wars songs, but I chose just one. “Yoda” makes me laugh every time I hear it. Its just so well put together, and goes so well with the original song, “Lola” by The Kinks. He also does “Livin’ La Vida Yoda” and “The Saga Begins”.
Favorite line: “The long term contract I had to sign says I’ll be making these movies till the end of time with my Yoda”

2. “Star Wars Theme Song” by Goldentusk
A creative song set to the tune of the main theme of A New Hope. A lot of work was put in to the video and the lyrics. And he does all three movies in five minutes.
Favorite line: “May the Force always be with you, if its not, you’ll end up just like Anakin”

1. “Star Wars Cantina” by Richard Cheese
This is my favorite Star Wars parody song! Richard Cheese fits this song with Barry Manillow’s “Copacabana” perfectly. It will get stuck in your head for days and days!
Favorite line: “In that galaxy far, far away Luke has had a lousy day”

1. Dantooine: Go camping on one of Dantooine’s luscious valley floors, where the rebel base is definitely not located.
   

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1. ...you frequently get headaches trying to move things with your mind.


2. …you say “Use the Foooorce” in completely serious situations.


3. …you tell people your hunk-of-junk car can make the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs.


4. …you don’t care that a parsec is not a measurement of time.


5. …Jar Jar Binks makes you cry.


6. …Mark Hamil calls you a Star Wars nerd.

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Star Wars is a captivating tale for many, and with any huge fan base comes the united wish that the universe was real place we could all go and live. We may not have the Force, and we may not have made first contact yet, but we’re getting very close to a few other things George Lucas wrote about so long, long ago. The biggest aspect of any sci-fi story is technology. If you look at Star Wars tech, some of it can be found in our world today, if not in the near future.

Holograms are within arm’s length. Virtual reality is close to being perfected, and projectors are already widely available. The LG eXpo is a smartphone with a projector that was released in December of 2009. If these technologies were combined, and there was a way to make virtual reality portable, it would be easy to set up a way to project your own form to a friend or family member in another country. Read the rest of this entry »

We all know the big guys; Darth Vader, the Emperor, Jabba the Hutt, Exar Kun, Grand Admiral Thrawn, and so on. But what about the others, the ones who might have only been in one book, the ones few know or think about? I’d like to take a moment of your time to discuss just a few lesser known (yet just as devastating) evil, low-down, no good bad guys.
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Star Wars has some of the best merchandise you can get; toys, games, and all sorts of collectibles. But there’s nothing like wearing your favorite movie franchise around town! Here are ten of the coolest Star Wars wearable things I’ve found on the internet over the years.

10. Darth Vader Costume T-Shirt

One of the reasons why this shirt is so cool is because it’s just a t-shirt! You could wear it with jeans, dress pants, a skirt, anything! Nothing is more versatile than a t-shirt. And it’s not your typical Star Wars shirt! Its an all around unique shirt, and even at $28 + shipping, its worth it.

One of my favorite things about Star Wars are the ships and vehicles, so its no surprise that Star Wars: Incredible Cross-Sections has become one of my favorite books. The book is only 32 pages long, with each ship or vehicle taking up 2 pages, but it covers the more famous ones. A few included are the Millennium Falcon, Sandcrawler, AT-AT, and a few of the fighters. The details in the art are absolutely amazing, giving the reader an inside look at the design and function of the vehicles and ships.

Each page also includes detailed descriptions of each mode of transportation (or destruction).  It was interesting to learn that TIE fighters were built without landing gear, designed to reduce mass for maximum maneuverability, and also so that they can only land in a Star Destroyer’s hangar, to teach the pilots complete dependence on the authority of the Empire.

Full of interesting information and beautifully intricate drawings of some of the coolest ships and vehicles in Star Wars, this book is perfect for any fan looking to build their own X-Wing, get an inside look, or expand their collection.

[Editor’s note: Previously, we had reviewed Episode I: Incredible Cross-Sections from the same series. Also, this is the first post on GalaxyFarAway.com by our newest contributor, Darth Rand!]

Are you an avid gamer, collector, expanded universe fan? Crazy about all things Star Wars? This is an open call for contributors to GalaxyFarAway.com. Some web and writing experience preferred. Geeky perks, geek cred guaranteed. Email me for more information if you are interested.

We have updated our image gallery and merged its design with the rest of the web site. Hope you enjoy it, and let me know what else you would like to see in the gallery.

This section has been neglected for a little while, but as part of the current redesign, I am bringing it back in to the fold. Here is a list of all the reviews available here at GalaxyFarAway.com Books. Except where noted, all reviews are by our former Star Wars Book Chick Karen. Also, we have a useful timeline to figure out the order in which the books occur in the Star Wars universe.

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In November, I went to see Star Wars in Concert here in Boston at the Garden and it was a treat. It was a live concert, hosted by Anthony Daniels (C3PO), set to video and effects. The concert took us through the entire saga, with Daniels introducing each bit.

The best part was the kids in the audience and the extraordinary time they were having. So many of them were dressed up in costumes. The new Clone Wars TV series has reignited the passion in a new generation.

Here I am with my 10-year old Darth Maul t-shirt. (And here I am with the same t-shirt at the opening of Episode I in India 10 years ago):

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Avatar has probably changed what people expect from movies. But what has it changed for Star Wars fans? Here are the top five things Avatar has changed for Star Wars Fans:

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Happy Life Day, and happy holidays from GFA and these folks hanging out in my tree.

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