Speaking in Aurebesh

A number of friends have been lucky enough to head to Walt Disney World for the annual Star Wars Weekends at Disney's Hollywood Studios. It's been years since I've been, and really must go back. Not only to see all the neat events and guest stars, but also to go shopping at Darth Mall. (Get it?)

My dear friend, Michelle, sent me a text this morning saying she was able to get me another Star Wars name tag written in Aurebesh, the Star Wars writing system used to represent Basic, which is the common language spoken throughout the galaxy. Pretty slick, huh? Just like her nails.  :-)

To Boldly Merlot Where No Cab Has Gone Before

It was announced today that a new novelty wine has begun presale, and it has my name all over it. Well, not my name, but Star Trek, and it's to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the TV series. Showcased are three memorable episodes:  "The City on the Edge of Forever," "Mirror Mirror" and "The Trouble with Tribbles." Of course I love the Tribbles bottle.

Only 1701 cases were made (get it?) and you can either buy by the case at $285 (no significance there) or individually at $24.99, with a flat shipping rate of $20.00. Go in with some friends to help offset the cost. But hurry: you must order by July 1, 2013.

Click here to read more about the wine offered by Vinport, or click here to order your wine today.

Sweetie Darling

This morning I had brunch with some friends at Redstone American Grill, when we spotted a celebrity. Patsy Stone was at the table next to us. She was having a Mimosa instead of her usual Stoli, but she still looked Absolutely Fabulous.

Separated at birth or same person. You decide.

Ships of Epic Proportion

Well, since I'm on the sci-fi geek roll, I might as well keep going.

Today I found out some very cool news. Eaglemoss Collections will be releasing more than 65 die-cast models of Star Trek spaceships!

Eaglemoss Collections has released other collectibles, but I sure hope they do one with the entire batch of Star Wars ships. There's lots of details on these, and the price point is reasonable. You can collect them individually, or get the whole set. A new ship is released every two weeks and includes a magazine. You get a couple of other perks, too. Check out the website here.

While you're there, click on the five ships they have available for additional views. You can see the ship in 360 degrees, as well as view from above and below. I probably won't be getting the whole set, but I'll get my fair share. 

Boldly Went Where Others Have Gone Before (This Weekend)

Well, I finally was able to see the much-anticipated sequel to the 2009 release of Star Trek. Into Darkness was absolutely riveting. I'm not going to get all movie critic on your, nor are there any spoilers.  But seeing it in 3D IMAX was so worth the price of admission.

I am one of those (space) anomalies that love both Star Trek and Star Wars. I grew up with Star Trek, which paved the way for Star Wars. Personally, as a fan of science fiction, I don't understand how some fans are 'one or the other'. In my universe, there's room for both.  Enough with the puns.

One thing I will say is that there was a lot of name-dropping in this movie. For those who are familiar with the TV series, novels, etc., you will hear some familiar names and situations. It leads me to believe there is plenty of material for sequels, and for that, I am grateful.

Of course when you have a blockbuster release, you get plenty of pictures and memes floating around the Internet. One of my favorite pictures is the one above, showing the men who portrayed such classic and memorable characters. It amazes me how spot-on Zachary Quinto and Karl Urban, who play Spock and Dr. McCoy, respectively, portray the classic characters we know so well. It's like how Ewan McGregor nailed his interpretation of Sir Alec Guinness' role as Obi-Wan Kenobi. The speech inflections and mannerisms make the performance that much more believable. 

Just like in a parallel universe, you also get articles drawing parallels between the movie and life. I read one such article this morning, entitled 10 Things Businesses Should Learn from 'Star Trek', by Mark Harden. It's a great read and so true for anyone sitting the Captain's chair.

The other thing I found is a little more dangerous (to me). Since I wasn't able to go to Star Wars Weekends at Walt Disney World to make myself into a Stormtrooper or frozen in Carbonite, so I'll have to settle for the next best thing: becoming a Starfleet Officer.

I found this on Cubify this morning. You have to check it out! You choose a pose, uniform and rank, load up a picture of yourself, and they make an action figure of you! That's got my name (and face) all over it.

Service Bar

Back in October of last year, I was flying out of Midway in Chicago. They have a service bar near the gate.The past, the present and the future walked into that bar.


It was tense.

Quiet Before The Storm

Well, it was only a light sprinkle if we're taking about the weather.

I was on my way to the airport to meet up with a friend before he boarded his flight. The train to the terminal was empty, but that's nothing out of the ordinary.

Not sure if I'll be able to see Stark Trek: Into Darkness this weekend, it gave me an opportunity to pretend I was on a shuttlecraft. (Yeah, that's how my mind works.)

When I arrived at the terminal, I was surprised at how empty the airport was on a Friday afternoon. Usually it packed with business dudes trying to get back home after a week of business on the road. I remember those days.

I was able to meet up with my friend, and while we didn't have a lot of time to catch up, I was happy his trip through TSA took a matter of minutes, and he was lucky to be leaving out of the F Concourse.

That left me to head back to catch the Lightrail to the Mall of America and head home. As I was waiting for the train, I noticed a sign that reminded me of something that was rolled out, pun intended, this week. For years we've only had one Lightrail line, but as construction on the second line finishes up, MetroTransit is training us to call the 'old' line the Blue Line. Hopefully people won't confuse the Blue and Green lines. They should have gone with red.

I'm With Stupid

Who knew that one our most beloved and expressive articles of clothing is turning 100 this year? I sure didn't. Apparently the birth of the t-shirt began in 1913 as the US Navy issued crewneck t-shirts to be worn under uniforms.

Whether it's worn without design, a la James Dean, or with some type of design to express yourself, like Frankie telling you to relax, no wardrobe is complete without a t-shirt.

It was fun looking at the 100 most iconic t-shirts as chosen by CustomInk.  But can you believe that Mickey placed 31st? I would have ranked him much higher! (Of course)

Check out more about the 100th anniversary of the t-shirt at CustomInk. Be sure to check out the timeline and leave a comment!

Star Cards

Back in 2005 (was it really that long ago in a galaxy far, far away...), I was traveling a lot for business. That was also the year that Burger King reunited with LucasFilm and the Star Wars franchise one last time to promote Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. One of the offerings was a series of six limited edition gift cards, one honoring each movie.

These are lenticular cards, so they didn't scan well. 

• The Episode II card shows Yoda in one view and Count Dooku fighting Yoda in the other.
• The Episode V card shows Han Solo in one view and Boba Fett in the other.
• The Episode VI card shows Slave Leia in one view and Jabba the Hutt in the other.

I wish I had picked up the other three cards, but at least I still have these three.

As history repeats itself, kind of, for the first time in Star Wars Weekends history, Disney Gift Cards will be offering four unique Star Wars-themed Disney Gift Card designs!

Each week during Star Wars Weekends a new design will become available:

Weekend 1: Skywalker Mickey, May 17
Weekend 2: Darth Donald, May 24
Weekend 3: Yoda Stitch, May 31
Weekend 4: Darth Goofy, June 7

As an added bonus, there's a hidden Mickey on each card! Click on that picture above, because I tried to make it as large as I could to spot any, but I haven't found them (yet). I hope that I will be able to get them all. To read more about the gift cards, click here. 

UPDATE:
So the morning of the 18th, I was updating this post with scanned pictures of my BK Star Wars gift cards. On a whim, I checked eBay, and someone was selling all six gift cards! I noticed a new feature on eBay that lets you know someone is watching the item, so I exercised my right to Buy It Now. Thanks to me working on this post, my collection is now complete. Now to get those Star Wars Weekends gift cards!

 

Liberty Begins With Thunderous Applause

No matter which side of the issue you're on, you have to admit it's been a big week here in Minnesota. The House and the Senate both debated and passed the Marriage Equality Act to legalize same-gender marriage. As of 5:00 PM today, Minnesota becomes the first state in Midwest to legalize marriage equality by legislative vote, and the 12th State where marriage is just marriage as the Governor signs the bill making it official.

With the thousands of memes and posts flying around, I had to add a few of my own just fun. I used some familiar Star Wars moments to help me clutter up the Internet. And sorry Padmé, I changed your quote a bit.

More Mother's Day

Earlier this week, I spotted this picture on someone's Facebook profile. My Mom usually doesn't drink, but she will occasionally have a Margarita, so this was appropriate.

Having me come out to visit my parents wasn't the only Mother's Day gifts. I had to show up with a few treats. I think I know now from where I get some of my camera posing.

And it continues with a picture of me.

A few blog posts ago, I mentioned how I bought a frame from Hallmark and had the picture made by Shutterfly. From this look, it looks like it was a hit.

And here's Mom holding the final product. Happy Mother's Day, Mom! I love you!

Happy Mother's Day!

Just had to share the best Mom I know with the world.  Love you, Mom!

I've Looked at Cloud City from Both Sides Now

Odd. The boarding pass said 'Colorado', not 'Bespin'. But what a lovely view of Cloud City.

Fantasia GIF(ts)

I'm glad to see Disney is feeling the need to liven up our computers. I've been in meetings all day long and have no idea who is going to finish all my work. Perhaps that first GIF of Sorcerer Mikey can help out!

Even though I like them all, these are my favorites. Hope you like them too.

 

 

To see the other Fantasia GIFs, click here.

Ruhe Sanft

Ruhe Sanft, mein holdes Leben is a beautiful aria from Mozart's unfinished opera, Zaide, written in 1780. Roughly translated from German, it means, 'Rest in peace, the love of my life'. Treat yourself and watch one of my favorites, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa sing it by clicking here (but come back to read the rest of this post!)

This past Sunday, I was at the Saints Peter and Paul Cemetery in Loretto, MN. Whenever I go to a cemetery, I can't help but think of Mozart's music.

Having traveled throughout Europe, I visited cemeteries where people have been dead and buried longer than the United States has been a federal republic. In comparison, we are young. Even so, we do have some people who go back a hundred years or more. Seeing this headstone, you know why Mozart comes to my mind. And before I get hate posts, yes, I know that it was Johann Andreas Schachtner's libretti for Zaide.

It saddens me when I see younger people buried. Click on the picture below to read the writing on the stone to the right. I can't even imagine this mother's grief, but I can imagine the conversation telling her son to buckle up, and him saying, 'Yeah, don't worry about it, Mom". This is exactly why she worried about you, Luke.

Usually Mozart's Requièm Mass in D minor (K. 626), which was left unfinished at the time of his death on December 5, 1791, runs through my mind, especially when I see images like this. I am reminded of the Zentralfriedhof in Vienna, Austria, where I roamed for hours, where so many famous composers are buried like Beethoven, Schubert, and the Strauss'.

If you're like me and speak, read and write German, you will be able to read the headstone in the foreground. Evoking Mozart's naughty side he is said to have had, as do I, you may notice I purposely included the headstone in the background. There are lot of Germans buried in this cemetery, and I can only imagine the torment the name of this family has received.

For those who don't know German, let's just say the polite and proper translation for the word is to 'receive'. In its most vulgar, crude, and literal translation, well, let's just say it's not a Disney word, or one you'd use sitting around the dinner table.

Who says I don't have a sense of humor? I find myself to be quite...

The Morning After

There's always next year, Luke.

May The Fourth Be With You

It's that time of the year again! May 4th. Not a big deal you say? Well it is if you're a Star Wars fan because it's the international day that honors the Star Wars saga. True, the original movie, or Episode IV, came out on May25, 1977, so why celebrate on the 4th? Well, it's a pun of the famous phrase, "May the Force be with you." Get it?

This has been going on for years, and there are so many clever 'May The Fourth Be With You' memes out there, I had to add a few of my own.  Let me know which is your favorite. You may think my favorite includes a self-portrait, but you'd be wrong.

Be sure to check out the Star Wars website for other fun celebratory ideas. You can even send me a May The 4th Be With You e-card, or to your favorite Wookie, when you click here.