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Current promotions for Star Wars Episode I in 3D

Posted in movies, nostalgia, Pepsi, pop culture, soda, Star Wars with tags movies, nostalgia, Pepsi, soda, Star Wars on February 13, 2012 by Paxton

Star Wars Episode I in 3D started on Friday. I plan on seeing it this weekend, so I’m very excited. It reminds me of the innocent times in early 1999 when I was awaiting the initial release of the movie. That pre-Episode I buildup was so much fun. This week, I’m going to take a look at some of the promotional stuff companies like Pepsi and Hasbro did for the first Star Wars movie since 1983.

Today, let’s start with the most recent stuff being used to promote Episode I in 3D.

There have been several posters released for Episode I in 3D. You can see the wide quad poster above. There’s a more traditional vertical version of that quad. There are also some cool looking character posters that have been released. Here are three of them (click image to see BIGGER).

As you will see, Darth Maul seems to be the character they are focusing on for most for these promotions. See several more posters at Geeks of Doom.

Pepsi is really being understated about their Episode I in 3D promotion. Currently, they have bottles of Lipton Raspberry Tea with Darth Maul’s face and a blurb about the movie. Other flavors just have the movie blurb. Check them out.

Darth Maul is also on the large cans of Raspberry Brisk. These are a lot harder to find. I’ve only seen the actual cans of Brisk once, but they didn’t have the Maul can. It looks awesome, though.

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League of Extraordinary Bloggers: Favorite “go-to” movie

Posted in Back to the Future, movies, pop culture, Star Wars with tags Back to the Future, LEB, movies, pop culture, Star Wars on February 9, 2012 by Paxton

Brian over at Cool and Collected has started a new movement. It’s a group of blogs coming together each week to discuss one topic. Brian will hand out the assignments and the blogs will discuss the topic as they see fit. Brian has dubbed it The League of Extraordinary Bloggers.

I pledged to him that I would join in when I can, and seeing as how for once I’m actually way ahead on my own writing I’ve decided to jump in on our first assignment.

This first assignment was to discuss our “go to” movie. A movie we could watch at any time. Just pop it in, curl up on the sofa with an industrial sized bag of Cheetos and start quoting along with the movie. Mine is probably not going to be a shock to anyone who has read this blog for any amount of time. And I hate to keep going back to “the well” on this, but I have to answer truthfully.

On any given weekend, since I was a kid, there are two things I’d pop into the VCR at a moment’s notice depending on how I was feeling that day. The first was Back to the Future.

There is hardly an aspect of this trilogy I have yet to discuss. Check out my Back to the Future archives. Articles galore. The Nerd Lunch crew did an entire podcast discussing the Back to the Future movies and another one on just the topic of time travel. It’s because I’ve seen this movie so many times and know it like the back of my hand that I can talk so often about it. I love this movie. It kindled my love for time travel. The first movie I took my son to when he was literally 1 month and 5 days old was the limited 25th anniversary showing of the original Back to the Future on Oct 25, 2010. I pretty much recited the dialog throughout the entire movie while he slept. So yes, this is definitely a “go to” movie for me. I could probably put the entire trilogy in here as I love all three movies, but I watched the original many more times. Mostly due to the fact that Part II didn’t show up until four years later. So I had time to just load up on repeated Back to the Future viewings. And I own this trilogy on all media formats including VHS, Laserdisc, DVD and Blu-Ray.

The second thing I’d pop into my VCR on any given weekend and have on in the background is the Star Wars Trilogy. Most especially the original VHS releases.

It doesn’t matter which one, I consider them all to be one movie. And I have this movie trilogy on nearly every format including VHS (multiple versions), Laserdisc, Video CD and DVD. On any given day my favorite is different. I love all three.

Since college, I could pop on a Back to the Future or Star Wars movie and have it running in the background for hours while I worked on school projects, surfed the Internet or just hung out at home. They are hands down my two favorite movie trilogies. Possibly even my favorite movies of all time.

I even own the deluxe film score to the Back to the Future trilogy as well as the 4 disc Star Wars Trilogy Soundtrack Anthology. I would sometimes put these on in the background while doing homework or working on chores around the house.

Articles from other League of Extraordinary Bloggers

1. Shawn Robare at Branded in the 80s talks about Red Dawn.
2. Christopher Tupa talks about one of my favorites, The Goonies.
3. Siftin’ talks about watching Superman II more times than even I have seen it. And that’s a lot.

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My preparations for Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace in 3D

Posted in books, movies, Star Wars with tags books, Movie Novelizations, movies, Star Wars on February 3, 2012 by Paxton

Star Wars Episode I in 3D comes out on February 10 which is a week from today. Being a Star Wars guy, I’m really excited to see the movie again on the big screen.

I was just the other day reading my 10th anniversary review of Star Wars: Episode I. Hard to believe that was nearly 3 years ago. While I think the movie runs a little long, there are scenes and moments in it that are awesome. Darth Maul, obviously, is a BAD ASS. Darth Sidious/Palpatine is great. Qui Gon Jinn is awesome. Ewan as Obi-Wan, podracing, the final 3-way lightsaber battle and John Williams’ score (and most notably Duel of the Fates). All awesome. Not awesome? Jake Lloyd. This kid has been vilified for this movie, and I feel bad for him. I do. But his performance is terrible. And Jar Jar. What can you say about f**king Jar Jar other than he sucks ass?

Regardless, I am excited to see this again in theaters and in 3D. Plus I’m almost positive they’ve replaced that fugly looking Yoda puppet with full CGI. I saw clips of the scenes at that Star Wars Concert that toured the country two years ago. That is exciting.

So, in preparation, I’ve been reading up on some of the Episode I ancillary material to round out my experience with this movie. I know Episode I has been a bit maligned, but honestly, I think it’s better than Episode II: Attack of the Clones which is mostly terrible (except for, again, the final 3-way lightsaber battle).

Here are some of the things I’ve been reading to enhance my readiness for Episode I in 3D.

Star Wars: Darth Plagueis by James Luceno – This book was released in January. I borrowed it from my friend Dr Mike and read it this past week. I just finished it on Tuesday. It’s amazing. Epic and sprawling, the plot of this book spans many years beginning 30+ years before The Phantom Menace and ending just after the events of the movie. It’s a “behind the scenes” book. The book is obstensibly about Darth Plagueis (Palpatine’s Sith Master), but it’s every bit Palpatine/Darth Sideous’ book as well. You see Plagueis come up as an apprentice, kill his master, obtain Palpatine as an apprentice, then begin the Grand Plan to bring down the Republic and decimate the Jedi Order. This book is mostly, like I said, behind the scenes, but it’s amazing how it tries to reconcile plot lines from the movies, TV shows, comics and other novels. Truly worth the read. This book makes the convoluted Trade Federation subplot in Episode I almost make sense. I have a feeling this book is going on my year end “best books” list and it’s only February.

Star Wars Episode I Journal: Darth Maul by Jude Watson – This came out the year after Episode I. It was during the early days when we knew nothing about Darth Maul. This was the first time he was revealed to be a Zabrak from Iridonia. I loved Maul so back in the day I bought up everything I could about him. This is a light, fluff read. Less than 100 pages. It’s essentially written as Maul’s journal during the events of The Phantom Menace. It’s a behind the scenes book similar to Plagueis but you don’t get as much information. It’s mainly Maul waiting around to do stuff. Cool but a bit light in detail.

Star Wars: Darth Maul – This was a comic series from 2000. It’s a fantastic story that takes place a few months before The Phantom Menace. It depicts Maul’s first real assignment from Darth Sidious. Essentially Darth Maul vs Black Sun. And it’s awesome.

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European Darth Vader burger is set to Force Choke you to death with AWESOME

Posted in fast food, France, Paris, Star Wars with tags fast food, movies, Paris, pop culture, Star Wars on January 13, 2012 by Paxton

When I visited Paris, France with my wife back in 2007, one of the more awesome fast food places I found was called Quick Hamburger Restaurant (or just Quick). It was all over the city, including this nice two floor version next to the famous Moulin Rouge.

At the time, they were offering these awesome Double Effect sandwiches. It was two different sandwiches fused into one. Like this fish sandwich melded to a chicken sandwich.

It looked like these two sandwiches were making out. GET A ROOM, GUYS! Anyway, they also had sandwiches that melded burgers and fish and burgers and chicken. It was a spectacular idea that I’m sad to say never caught on here in the States.

Well, Quick is trying to do it again. They currently have a promotion for the Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace 3D release in a few weeks. They have released three new burgers with a Star Wars theme. Here are some ads via MovieLine.

In this ad on the left you see the Dark Burger accompanied by the awesome Darth Maul. It looks like 2 burger patties, a special sauce, lettuce and maybe some spicy pepper cheese. On the right you see the Jedi burger alongside the ever wise Yoda. This burger also has two patties, maybe some regular cheese and what I believe are cheese curds (also used on awesome as f**k poutine).

In this second ad you see the Jedi Burger again. No different than the last ad. On the left, though, is the money shot. The Dark Vador. It looks similar to the regular Dark Burger, maybe just some red peppers have been added on top of the lettuce, but the buns ARE BLACK! BLACK BUNS! It makes the burger look burned. Burned like Anakin Skywalker’s scarred visage at the end of Revenge of the Sith! I love everything about this. I’m willing to overlook the fact that this promotion would probably be more appropriate for the release of Revenge of the Sith 3D in 2014 as Darth Vader is only a child in The Phantom Menace. But that’s neither here nor there because I want this burger in me RIGHT NOW.

I love when fast food joints think outside the box for fun and creative promotions like this. It just sucks when I can’t try them. ROAD TRIP!

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Brandon Peat’s Star Wars Alphabet – A is for Ackbar

Posted in movies, pop culture, Star Wars with tags movies, pop culture, Star Wars, Star Wars Alphabet on December 16, 2011 by Paxton

Our good friend Fitz from the Nerd Lunch Podcast sent me a little gift in the mail. It’s a small booklet for my son, PJ, featuring the Star Wars Alphabet. Each letter represents a character from the Star Wars Universe. It’s pretty awesome. The book was written by Brandon Peat and drawn by Peat’s wife. Check out Brandon Peat’s site to find out how to obtain these.

Here are a few of the letters.

Here is the letter A, which is for Ackbar.