Posts Tagged ‘Star Wars’
On Hoth, Every Day Is Valentine’s Day [Valentine's Day]
Posted by: Gadget Boy in Gadget News, Technology on February 9th, 2010
Nothing says "I love you" quite like intergalactic frenemies walking hand in hand. Illustrator James Stowe appears to agree, having made a different Valentine's Day card for each Star Wars episode. And not a Jar Jar in sight!
My favorite might be Greedo and Han, but they're all pretty terrific. And what a relief to not to see Luke and Leia sharing a card. Or Leia and Jabba, for that matter.
It doesn't look as though you can purchase these, but you can always print them out for that special someone. And if he or she's a real fan, you're almost guaranteed a little Wookiee.
[Art by Stowe via Neatorama]
Gigantic Lego Star Wars Rebel Frigate Is 4 Feet 6 Inches of Brickgasm [Lego]
Posted by: Gadget Boy in Gadget News, Technology on December 30th, 2009
I remember spending countless hours playing Lucasarts' X-Wing in college, painfully defending these Rebel frigates against TIE Fighters. Then I got TIE Fighter, and enjoyed destroying them. I wouldn't have the heart to reduce to bricks the enormous Nebulon-B.
The Lego version of the classic Nebulon-B Class rebel frigate Redemption is 4 feet and 6 inches long. That's 172 studs long, and I'm not talking about The Hoff. It's big enough to dock one mini-Millennium Falcon and three X-Wings. [MOC via Brothers Brick]
This Guy Dresses Women By Painting Their Naked Bodies in Star Wars Themes and More (NSFW) [Nsfw]
Posted by: Gadget Boy in Gadget News, Technology on December 30th, 2009
I've found a new hero. His name is Mark Greenawalt and he uses liquid latex and bodypaint to turn naked people into Star Wars characters, superheroes, and various fantasy creatures. The man's talented and has some gorgeous canvases.
I don't know how I haven't heard of Mark or his work before, but I'm stunned now that I have. Like I said, the man is outrageously talented and able to use little more than paint, a few accessories, and the human body to create costume-like appearances. He's done work on many conventions, been published various times, and has worked with companies such as World Wrestling Entertainment, Maxim, Playboy, and Heineken.
You can check out his portfolio, but I've gone ahead and gathered up images from my favorite sets here, including the very first one that caught my eye, Mark's gorgeous Star Wars-themed art:
You might notice that a majority of his canvases are female, and of course those are the first to call to our attention, but Mark has in fact painted a few fellows as well, including some of the superheroes in this mix:
Amazing. Follow the link for more of Mark's work. [Mark Greenawalt]
All images from Mark Greenawalt
The Star Wars and A-Team Mashup (At Last!) [Star Wars]
Posted by: Gadget Boy in Gadget News, Technology on December 28th, 2009
You know we love these Star Wars and old TV series intro mash-ups. You already saw Macgyver and Magnum P.I., but the trilogy wouldn't be complete without our all-time favorite: The A-Team! Watch it and compare it to the original.
Geeeeeenius. [Star Wars Blog]
The Galactic Empire Has Taken Over Wall Street [Star Wars]
Posted by: Gadget Boy in Gadget News, Technology on December 22nd, 2009
It seems that Wall Street is finally an official part of a dark empire. Or at least that's the impression I'm getting from seeing Darth Vader himself ringing the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange earlier.
Gotta wonder what's going through everyone's minds during that awkward silence after the bell is rung though. Are they deciding whether to run or laugh?
Star Wars Weather Finally Puts the Forecast Into Terms I Can Understand [Star Wars]
Posted by: Gadget Boy in Gadget News, Technology on December 19th, 2009
Weather reports are complicated. Barometric pressure, precipitation probabilities, there's too much to keep track of. Star Wars Weather takes all that info puts it into terms I can understand: what Star Wars planet the current conditions most closely resemble.
I live in the northeast. All I really need to know for the next few months is that it'll be like Hoth outside. Once it starts turning to Endor, I'll be in the clear.
See? Simple. [Star Wars Weather via Neatorama]
Epic 70-Minute Phantom Menace Review Justifies the Existence of The Phantom Menace [Movies]
Posted by: Gadget Boy in Gadget News, Technology on December 18th, 2009
You probably don't think there's any way you'd ever watch a 70-minute-long YouTube dismantling of the first horrible Star Wars prequel. And you'd be wrong, because this is one of the best things ever.
Seriously, just start watching the first one if you don't believe me. And really, are you going to argue with Lost co-creator Damon Lindelof, who discovered this and said "Your life is about to change. This is astounding film making. Watch ALL of it."? I didn't think so. [YouTube via Damon Lindelof]
Beautiful Lego in Hoth Photos Have Me in Total Awe [Lego]
Posted by: Gadget Boy in Gadget News, Technology on December 16th, 2009
These are not the biggerest of Lego spaceships nor an impossible balancing act. It's just Lego Star Wars perfectly photographed using a very clever, and deceitfully simple technique. This is how the expert Finnish photographer Avanaut did it:
In his own words:
There's been some questions about how I do the snowshots. I've given some verbal information about the technique, but I guess, a photograph about my setup is needed. So, I made the photos above and below (in the gallery) just for the occasion.
The setup is simple really: All I use is an old transparent CD storage box, some water and my trusty old A4 lightbox for lighting. For the bottom of the box I have a piece of gray Lego baseplate cut in form and hotglued on a piece of acrylic sheet to give it some weight. Legos float because of all the air trapped inside individual pieces.
Anything I want to shoot is then easily mounted on the baseplate and inserted inside the CD box.
Photographing "snow" in this scale is difficult, and to amp up the challenge I wanted it to fly around. The answer was not to use faster shutterspeed but to slow the snow down.
I had a wacky idea to submerge everything in water, it slows down everything that moves. The water also causes light to reflect from solid surfaces in a way that sometimes helps hiding the miniature scale. This is an old concept I've been toying with for ages. For the snow I use ground plaster of Paris—reacted, not unused gypsum powder! It is a passive material that doesn't stick to anything.
Lighting is done with the lightbox freehand as you can see from the photo below.
I shoot a lot of frames because the "snow" is impossible to control exactly. And then some Photoshopping is in order, but not always, sometimes none is needed.
Simply amazing. Check the rest of his awesome work in his Flickr page. [Avanaut in Flickr and Lego on Hoth]
R2-D2 statue comes with its own set of tools
Posted by: Gadget Boy in Gadget News, Technology on December 16th, 2009
Once again, I find myself reporting on a other piece of Star Wars merchandise. Last time, it was the Millennium Falcon bed, and now it is this Ultimate R2-D2 statue.
The statue is a 1:6 model of everyone’s favorite astromech droid, and it is hand-painted and stamped with a “limited edition” label. According to the editor of Entertainment Earth, the site where you can order this statue, it has “insane detail”.
Also included is special tools including a mechanical gripper, periscope scanner, tiny buzzsaw, and five others. I find it odd that none of my sources say what the five other tools are, but I’m guessing that none of these tools would actually be working. After all, if the model is 1:6 to scale, then surely the tools must not be the right size for human hands.
Still, this leads me to a very pleasant thought. Is there any way that we could make this like the remote controlled R2D2 sort of like the projector from Nikko. Make this remote-control Artoo life-sized, and then put compartments in it for tools.
That way, if you need a tool, just program Artoo to get it for you. Better yet, make a control so the tool will just come out and do the job for you. This is why someone needs to build a real R2-D2. Surely we have the technology now.
Check out the Coolest Gadgets 2008 Gift Guides, Christmas shopping made easy.
[ R2-D2 statue comes with its own set of tools copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]
I know what you're thinking right now. "Who in the hell is Koyi Matei." We haven't the slightest clue, but she was probably the chief protagonist in Episode 2, or something. [

