Chop Sabers (Chopsticks)

With Star Wars merchandising, it can easily be said, "can you believe they made THAT?!"  And to be fair, there have been times when there simply was way too much crap, such as the 1982-1985 period surrounding Return of the Jedi, and in 1999 when The Phantom Menace brought Star Wars back into movie theatres.

Currently there's an abundance of merchandising, and mostly the licensing people from Lucasfilm are doing a good job approving cool stuff for hardcore and casual fans.  One of the coolest officially licensed items debuted at the 2009 Comic-Con, Star Wars Chop Sabers.

Currently available in the US for $12.99 per pair from ThinkGeek, you can choose from six different styles.  Plus, these make great gifts because who can complain about getting multiples of eating utensils?

A very Star Wars Thanksgiving

Photo via Nerd Bastards

Just in time for America's great overeating holiday, geeky website Nerd Bastards has a fun post entitled Ways to Sci-Fi Up Your Thanksgiving Holiday Meal.  While they miss some obvious possibilities (you've got mashed potatoes, but no mention of the famous "This means something" moment by Richard Dreyfuss in Close Encounters of the Third Kind?), they do get points for the great suggestion of adding blue milk to the menu.  Aunt Beru would be proud.

Any other ideas on how to give Thanksgiving a more Star Wars feel?

And is it too early to discuss the Star Wars Holiday Special?

Zero Punctuation reviews Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II

If you've never seen a Zero Punctuation review, you're missing out.  The fast-talking Brit Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw provides visually and vocally animated reviews of games.  This week he tackles Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II (previously blogged about here). Check it out:



Via The Escapist.

Star Wars landed me a husband!

Photo from Skirt.com

There's a really endearing story posted to Skirt.com entitled "STAR WARS landed me a husband!"  In it, the author Tonilynn fesses up to her own Star Wars geekery.  It's a fun and well-written piece, check it out.  Here's the intro, which, if this doesn't grab you, I don't know what to say:

The very first night my future husband and I met, he took me into his bedroom and showed me his lightsaber--and no that is not a euphemism.  I threw around some little known Star Wars quotes, and I saw his blue eyes light up like the blue lightsaber he was holding.  (Still not a euphamism.)

Read the whole story here.

Encase Yourself in Carbonite

Comic-Con 2006 - Boba Fett and
Han Solo in Carbonite at the Lucasfilm booth
Originally uploaded by popculturegeek.com

For just 50 bucks plus shipping, you can get yourself or a friend an incredibly cool gift - a custom sculpting of yourself, encased in carbonite just like Han Solo in Empire Strikes Back.  Paul Pape, an amazing designer who does incredible custom work, is offering this service for a limited time.  Simply send him a picture of yourself or your friend in the pose that you'd like to be immortalized in 4" tall carbonite, and you'll get the one of a kind item before Christmas.  Here's the order page for this most impressive gift: Paul Pape Designs General GeekeryStore.

Darth Mercury

Via Look at this Frakking Geekster on Tumblr

Augmented Reality comes to Star Wars mobile gaming

Photo via Vertigore

If you can tear yourself away from The Force Unleashed II long enough, I think this new Star Wars game for the mobile arena is worth a look.  Using "augmented reality," which is the term for using real-time photo or video imagery "augmented" by computer display info, the new game Star Wars Arcade: Falcon Gunner allows you to defend your own city (or any other location where you might choose to play) against an onslaught of Imperial TIE fighters.  Augmented reality is an exciting development for gaming that will prove to be a real differentiator for mobile gaming platforms.  The game is coming soon for iPad, iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4, and iPod Touch 4th Generation from developer Vertigore and publisher THQ Wireless.  Check out the YouTube video from Gizmodo which shows off how cool this kind of game can be: