Kasabian frontman buys droids

Brit band Kasabian frontman Tom Meighan shelled out some serious dough to add replicas of R2-D2 and C-3PO to his growing sci-fi film memorabilia collection.

According to The Sun:

Tom has paid 8,000 British pounds to have the life-size R2-D2 and C-3P0 models made and they are both exact replicas from the film. They now have pride of place in his flat, which is full of cool stuff from cult movies. Tom spent around 10,000 British pounds earlier this year on the actual BMX they used in E.T. – and he also has a life-size model of E.T.

Read more about Tom’s collection here:
Singer’s £8k on C-3PO & R2-D2

Learn more about why Tom loves Star Wars in our interview with him here:
Britpop Band Kasabian Reveals Love for Star Wars

Be sure to catch the rest of Kasabian taking a tour of Lucasfilm in the Presidio here.

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SOURCES:
The Sun, ClubJade.net

Giant LEGO R2-D2

If you had enough giant LEGO bricks what would you build? One fan decided to make an 8-foot tall R2-D2 complete with blinking lights and sound effects sampled from the films.

According to Technabob.com:

Built by official LEGO Master Model Builder Dan Steinenger with the assistance of a bunch of visiting kids, the giant R2 unit was assembled as part of the recent Festival of the Masters event at the LEGO Store at Downtown Disney in Orlando, Florida.

Watch the video of the Giant LEGO R2-D2 in action.

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SOURCES:
Technabob.com, ClubJade.net

Make Your Own Mouse Droid

Robot master and Weekend Projects vlogger Bre Pettis shows us how to make a mouse droid using spare parts. Okay, actually it’s called Mousey the Junkbot, but close enough.

Check out the video here.

Vader More Popular Than Santa?

Despite the competitive headline, it’s all in good fun; the OC Register reports on the latest charitable efforts of the fan group, the 501st Legion, this time in Irvine, Calif. where they’ve come to celebrate with a great group of kids and their families. Here’s a snippet:

That was the case Saturday in Irvine, where autistic children and their parents celebrated the holidays at California Integrative Hyperbaric Center. The guests of honor were St. Nick, of course, and the 501st Legion, an organization of hobbyists who dress up in Star Wars costumes for promotional and charitable events.

“It’s great to see these kids happy,” said Chris Romines, 40, of Cypress, who wore the enigmatic black mask, cape and breastplate of the universe’s primary antagonist. “But between the kids and the adults, we don’t know who’s having more fun.”

You can read the rest of the article here, and be sure to check out their slideshow of images.

YTMND: Vader Loves Christmas

One-note? Sure. But it’s a good one.

(Via ClubJade).

EW Ranks Fansites: Indy and Star Wars Get Spotlight

The latest issue of Entertainment Weekly (#971/972) comes with a bonus insert magazine entitled, “Best of the Web” which tracks the “25 most essential fansites for TV, music and film buffs.” Each entry lists the fansite’s features, and contrasts it with the official site.

Coming in at #1 is TheRaider.net, while #25 sees our pals at TheForce.Net given kudos. What makes us particularly happy are the snark-free comparisons between official and unofficial sites. To quote: “the official site perfectly complements theforce.net — circling fans like the twin suns of Tatooine.”

The article (with slightly different text) can also be found online here.

R2-D2 Kidnapped!

A Swiss newpaper is reporting that “unidentified thieves have stolen a replica of the Star Wars robot R2-D2 from a film prop museum in Frauenfeld, canton Thurgau.”

The thieves broke into a basement storage room, making off with an exact copy of the famed robot character as well as other items. The 1.2-metre-high robot is worth thousands of Swiss francs according to its owner, Roman Güttinger.

Güttinger’s hoard of props from horror, adventure and science fiction films is considered the biggest private collection in Europe. He has gathered around 2,500 items, including rarities such as the monster from the Alien films and the Batmobile from Batman.

While no one as of yet has been apprehended, we suspect Jawas.

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SOURCE: Swissinfo.ch

DIY Star Wars Character Dolls

Using Star Wars characters masks downloaded from starwars.com, craftster Heidi Kenney from the blog My Paper Crane, made some rather cute Star Wars dolls.

Check them out here.

Also be sure to check out these Super Deformed Dolls on starwars.com.

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SOURCE: Craft magazine

Death Star Galaxy: Look at the Size of That Thing!

A comment from reader Alec Longstreth points to this fascinating science story of a massive black hole within the heart of a galaxy that is blasting a nearby companion galaxy with a jet of high energy particles and magnetic fields. It’s a galaxy… with a gun! The kind of nefarious superweapon that could only be cooked up in an Imperial laboratory, or in the depths of space by the cosmos. It’s the nickname of the violent galaxy that should catch the eye of Star Wars fans:

The larger of the two galaxies in 3C321 – dubbed the “death star galaxy” by the astronomers – has a jet emanating from the vicinity of the black hole at its centre. The unfortunate smaller galaxy has apparently swung into the jet’s line of fire.

Read the rest here.

ILM: A Third of Prelim List for Best VFX Oscar

In response to the late release of some films, the Academy’s Visual Effects Steering Committee has adopted a new procedure, selecting a semi-finalist long, long list of 15 films to be considered prior to determining the seven which make up the “Bakeoff” long list (and from there, the nominees are chosen… still following?)

The new policy allows members to see more of the year’s visual effects stand-outs before determining which films will ultimately be in contention for the Best Visual Effects Oscar.

With five films represented, ILM’s 2007 releases make up a full third of the long list:

VISUAL FX SEMI-FINALIST LIST (In alphabetical order; ILM productions in bold)

Beowulf

The Bourne Ultimatum

Evan Almighty (ILM)

The Golden Compass

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (ILM)

I Am Legend

Live Free or Die Hard

National Treasure: Book of Secrets (ILM)

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End (ILM)

Ratatouille

Spider-Man 3

Sunshine

300

Transformers (ILM)

The Water Horse

On January 3, the Steering Committee will meet again to make an informed decision determining the Bakeoff seven. After this, it is business as usual; On January 16, all members of the Visual Effects branch will meet at the Bakeoff screening in LA to vote on the final three nominees. From there it is off to the Oscars on February 24. Congratulations to all the tireless folks at ILM!