Star Wars Trilogy

The Star Wars trilogy had the rare distinction of becoming more than just a series of movies, but a cultural phenomenon, a life-defining event for its generation. On its surface, George Lucas's original 1977 film is a rollicking and humorous space fantasy that owes debts to more influences than one can count on two hands, but filmgoers became entranced by its basic struggle of good vs. evil "a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away," its dazzling special effects, and a mythology of Jedi Knights, the Force, and droids.

In the first film, Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) gets to live out every boy's dream: ditch the farm and rescue a princess (Carrie Fisher). Accompanied by the roguish Han Solo (Harrison Ford, the only principal who was able to cross over into stardom) and trained by Jedi master Obi-Wan Kenobi (Alec Guinness), Luke finds himself involved in a galactic war against the Empire and the menacing Darth Vader (David Prowse, voiced by James Earl Jones). The following film, The Empire Strikes Back (1980), takes a darker turn as the tiny rebellion faces an overwhelming onslaught. Directed by Irvin Kershner instead of Lucas, Empire is on the short list of Best Sequels Ever, marked by fantastic settings (the ice planet, the cloud city), the teachings of Yoda, a dash of grown-up romance, and a now-classic "revelation" ending. The final film of the trilogy, Return of the Jedi (1983, directed by Richard Marquand), is the most uneven. While the visual effects had taken quantum leaps over the years, resulting in thrilling speeder chases and space dogfights, the story is an uneasy mix of serious themes (Luke's maturation as a Jedi, the end of the Empire-rebellion showdown) and the cuddly teddy bears known as the Ewoks.

Years later, George Lucas transformed his films into "special editions" by adding new scenes and special effects, which were greeted mostly by shrugs from fans. They were perfectly happy with the films they had grown up with (who cares if Greedo shot first?), and thus disappointed by Lucas's decision to make the special editions the only versions available. --David Horiuchi

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Tin Man (Two-Disc Collector's Edition) [Blu-ray]

Studio: Uni Dist Corp (music) Release Date: 07/20/2010 Run time: 88 minutes Rating: R

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Mass Effect

The galaxy is trapped in an endless cycle of extinction. Every 50,000 years, an ancient machine race invades the galaxy. With ruthless efficiency, the machines wipe out all advanced organic civilization. They leave behind only the scattered ruins of technology, destroying all evidence of their own existence.

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Doctor Who - The Tenth Doctor's Sonic Screwdriver

Each Sonic Screwdriver feels just perfect. It doesn't really do all the cool things in the series (just in case the Cybermen are able to buy them), but it does have lights and sounds straight from the show - and it extends too! One end has a purple UV light and the other has a pen nib. You can use the regular pen nib to write shopping lists and the UV ink pen nib to write secret plans. These can then be revealed with the UV light of the Sonic Screwdriver. Equip up, Junior Time Lords - it's time to go Dalek hunting.

Super Cool Note: The story goes like this: the prop made for the new series was small. Then this toy came out - it was bigger to accommodate the batteries - and the Doctor Who producers revamped the TV prop on a mold from this toy. So this Sonic Screwdriver is exactly the same size as the one Doctor Who uses on TV!

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Toy Story [VHS]

There is greatness in film that can be discussed, dissected, and talked about late into the night. Then there is genius that is right in front of our faces--we smile at the spell it puts us into and are refreshed, and nary a word needs to be spoken. This kind of entertainment is what they used to call "movie magic," and there is loads of it in this irresistible computer animation feature. Just a picture of these bright toys reawaken the kid in us. Filmmaker John Lasseter thinks of himself as a storyteller first and an animator second, much like another film innovator, Walt Disney.

Lasseter's story is universal and magical: what do toys do when they're not played with? Cowboy Woody (voiced by Tom Hanks), Andy's favorite bedroom toy, tries to calm the other toys (some original, some classic) during a wrenching time of year--the birthday party, when newer toys may replace them. Sure enough, Space Ranger Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) is the new toy that takes over the throne. Buzz has a crucial flaw, though--he believes he's the real Buzz Lightyear, not a toy. Lasseter further scores with perfect voice casting, including Don Rickles as Mr. Potato Head and Wallace Shawn as a meek dinosaur. The director-animator won a special Oscar for "the development and inspired application of techniques that have made possible the first feature-length computer-animated film." In other words, the movie is great. --Doug Thomas


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Image of Hitler hidden in church stained glass window

Yep, that's Hitler alright.

For almost 70 years, church worshippers in a small town south of Paris have been saying their prayers under a portrait of Adolf Hitler.  The Fuhrer's likeness is featured in a stained-glass window - installed in 1941 in the choir of St James' church in Montgeron, in what historians say is a 'quiet act of defiance' in Nazi-occupied France (rather than actually fighting back, one must assume).

Hitler is portrayed as Herod Agrippa, the brutal king of Judea, dressed in a blue Roman tunic and red cloak, wielding a sword that is about to behead the praying figure of St James the Apostle.  About two-thirds of Hitler's face is seen - his moustache and mouth are concealed by an uplifted left arm - but his quiff and head shape make him unmistakable.  The window was made by two master glaziers, Jose and Carl Maumejean, brothers who crafted two other stained-glass windows in Art Deco style for local churches.

Those darned French... what'll they think of next?

5 more years until Soylent Green?

Strained by rising demand and battered by bad weather, the global food supply chain is stretched to the limit, sending prices soaring and sparking concerns about a repeat of food riots last seen three years ago.  Signs of the strain can be found from Australia to Argentina, Canada to Russia.

On Friday, Tunisia's president fled the country after trying to quell deadly riots in the North African country by slashing prices on food staples.  "We are entering a danger territory," Abdolreza Abbassian, chief economist at the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), said last week.

The U.N.'s fear is that the latest run-up in food prices could spark a repeat of the deadly food riots that broke out in 2008 in Haiti, Kenya and Somalia. That price spike was relatively short-lived. But Abbassian said the latest surge in food stuffs may be more sustained... just like in the movie.

UFO Phil moves to Colorado Springs, plans to build alien pyramid on top Pikes Peak for Zaxon, the alien leader who never lets himself be photographed. So he's got that going for him. Which is nice.

If the above picture doesn't raise your curiosity, then you're just not that into UFO's. But if you find it strangely intriguing, then read the full story here. (new window).

Scientists plan to look up Uranus using a probe

That's right, British scientists are interested in probing Uranus and are leading plans to send a probe to explore the giant ice planet. They have put forward a detailed proposal to the European Space Agency to launch a joint mission with NASA to the distant world, 1.8 billion miles from the sun.

Need any help finding Uranus? Some people can't tell it from a hole in the ground. But for the next few months, it'll be next to Jupiter. Anyway, this probe would give scientists their first close-up views of Uranus since NASA’s Voyager 2 flew past and captured fleeting pictures 25 years ago. The £400million mission is designed to go in orbit to study the rings around Uranus and answer questions such as why it gives off so little heat... but so much wind (blowing at more than 500 mph).

The first man to declare, "I see Uranus!", was Sir William Herschel from Bath, England, in 1781. The planet is unusual because it is tilted right over on its side. Astronomers believe this was caused when Uranus was given a mighty slap by another world in some long-ago cosmic collision.

More than 160 scientists are backing the Uranus Pathfinder project which is led by Dr Chris Arridge, of University College London’s Mullard Space Science Laboratory in Surrey. He told Skymania in an exclusive interview: “We’ve only really scratched the surface of Uranus. It is very difficult to observe from Earth because any detail is smeared out. Since Voyager flew by we know the rings and atmosphere have changed. We need close-up measurements. Uranus is ripe for learning a lot from. There's a lot to explore there. It is so different among the planets."

“We tend to group Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune as the gas giant planets. But Jupiter and Saturn are dominated by hydrogen and helium with small rocky cores." He says. “When you go to Uranus and Neptune you find their composition is dominated a lot more by rock and ice. There is a lot more water in their atmospheres, a lot more methane.”

He added: “One of the big mysteries about Uranus is that it doesn’t emit much heat at all. Its axis is also highly tilted to its orbit so essentially it rolls around the solar system. It is thought that something the size of Mars or Earth hit Uranus early in the solar system and tilted it into its side, and that may have caused a massive loss of primordial heat.”

Uranus takes 84 years to orbit the Sun which leads to extreme seasons. Dr Arridge explains: “Because there is so little heat coming from inside Uranus, its atmosphere is completely driven by force of sunlight. And because it has got this large tilt in its axis one pole is continually in sunlight for 42 years while the other is in darkness and then the situation is reversed for 42 years.”

The nuclear-powered probe for Uranus, which the scientists hope to launch in 2021, would take an incredible 15 years to travel the vast distance to it's destination. It will be sent zipping past other planets (including Venus and Saturn) to help build up speed, like a game of interplanetary snooker. Finally it will go into orbit around Uranus to study the planet, its five main moons and other smaller natural satellites.

Uranus Pathfinder is being proposed as an M-class (medium-class) mission for ESA. But Dr Arridge said: “We see this as medium scale only in terms of price. For the amount of science you get back, it is a large scale mission for quite low cost.”

Is Uranus ready?

Dr. Who Linear Tardis Men's Tee, Navy

All T-shirts are brand new and include tags if available. Two t-shirts are never truly identical and minor variations from the image are normal.

Tips to preserving your t-shirt: Wash inside out with cold water and like colors. Air dry if possible, otherwise tumble dry low. Despite best efforts all garments fade and shrink, but with proper care you can extend the life of your shirt.


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The ten worst things about Star Trek V. Wait. Five best and five worst? Someone found five redeeming things in Star Trek V? What the hell?

Trekkies have by and large agreed that Star Treck V never happened, and for good reason. Seriously, this is a very bad film. It's HORRIBLE. Worse still, it screws up the Star Trek universe and makes everyone hate Star Trek in general.

If you dare read more... here's your link. (and don't say you weren't warned)

The Sims Deluxe Edition

 The Sims: Deluxe Edition combines The Sims, the most popular PC game of all time, and the top-selling Livin' Large expansion pack in one box with a host of all-new exclusive features and content.

In this box you'll find:

• The Sims: Create an entire neighborhood of Sims and run or ruin their lives with the full version of the bestselling PC game of all time. Help your Sims pursue careers, make friends, and find romance--or make a complete mess of things! Open-ended gameplay gives you the freedom to set your own goals as you chart your Sims' destiny.
• The Sims: Livin' Large: With over 125 additional items, five additional career tracks with 50 additional jobs, and a cast of wild characters like the Grim Reaper and the Genie, this bestselling expansion pack puts your Sims into outrageous situations and settings.
• The Sims Creator: Create any Sim you can imagine with this powerful new tool that allows even novice users to customize every detail of how their Sims look. Choose their clothing or create your own. Select from a variety of details like ties, jewelry, and tattoos. Players can even put their own face in The Sims with this easy-to-use tool.
• 25+ Exclusive Objects: Furnish your Sims' homes with two completely new design sets with over 25 objects exclusive to The Sims: Deluxe Edition.
• 50+ New Clothing Choices: A selection of modern and extreme fashion choices await your Sims.

The ultimate goal of life is to achieve happiness, and the way to achieve happiness is to buy stuff. So says The Sims, a game that lets you create, direct, and manage the lives of SimCity's residents.

The game begins with the creation of your simulated people: pick a name and a gender, decide on personality/astrological sign, and then choose a look from a variety of heads, bodies, and skin tones. Name, gender, and appearance don't affect gameplay much, but personality determines how your Sim plays with others. A serious, neat Sim might go crazy living with a sloppy party animal--or opposites might attract, and the two could end up falling in love.

After creation, the next step is to find a place to live. Again, the player can choose from among the empty houses in the neighborhood or decide to buy some land and design a dream house. Building houses is a blast, and the easy-to-use house design interface could almost be its own game: players design the floor plan, put up walls, pick carpet, wallpaper, and siding, and fill the house with furniture, decorations, fixtures, and appliances. You're limited only by your imagination--and your Sims' pocketbook. But the choices you make in designing and decorating your Sims' house are vital.

A good general rule is that the more expensive the object, the better its ability to satisfy Sim needs. Each little Sim person has needs (Hunger, Comfort, Hygiene, Bladder, Energy, Fun, Social, and Room) which can be satisfied by interaction with other Sims or purchased objects: throw a party with the help of a rockin' stereo system, and watch your Sims' Social and Fun ratings improve. Have one of your Sims whip up some food from the refrigerator, and you'll satisfy the Hunger needs of your guests. Or have your Sim engage another Sim in a game of chess: not only will their Fun and Social moods improve, both Sims will gain some points in their Logic skill rating--which might help on the job.

One gameplay goal is to improve your Sim so he or she can climb a career ladder, which nets him or her more money, which allows the purchase of higher quality stuff, which lets you improve your Sim even more. With proper care, your Sim can have a mate, kids, and a mansion with an indoor pool.

Mismanage your new, simulated family, and you'll be faced with the worst of MTV's The Real World: jealousies will ignite, fights will break out, jobs will be lost, and the house will fall apart. Bringing about such a calamity is almost as much fun as guiding your Sims to material paradise, and takes considerably less time.

Triumph or tragedy, each significant event in a Sim's life is captured in a snapshot and saved in a photo album for later viewing. Players can also take photos any time they wish. The photo album feature is cool by itself, but the best part is that you can upload the album to www.thesims.com and share your Sims' sagas with the world. Entire families can also be uploaded and downloaded, as can houses. Want to re-create and manage your own version of Friends? Download the free face and body editor and make Sim clones of the Ross, Rachel, and the rest. Want to perfectly re-create the set? Snag the free wall and floor texture editor. Feeling a little silly? Add Darth Vader to the family and see what happens. With The Sims, you can create whatever--and whomever--you desire.

Toying with the lives, successes, and emotional states of dozens of little Sims is undeniably fun. In the same way that SimCity players develop a condescending attitude toward real-world city planners, The Sims players will begin to see life as a series of needs-satisfying challenges; the game gets in your head. But that's OK: limitless gameplay, endless variety, imaginative Internet features, and the ability to play matchmaker/landlord/counselor/God makes The Sims a great way to increase your own Fun score. --Mike Fehlauer

Pros:

• Unique, addictive, fun gameplay
• Included photo album feature records triumphs and tragedies
• Free uploads and downloads expand the game and allow swapping with other players
• Sims are smart--it's sometimes best to just let them act on their own

Cons:

• Addictive gameplay may cause loss of sleep, job
• Complex behavioral modeling program--requires serious computing power
• No pets other than fish

Sex and aliens. That's really all that was missing from the amazing original edition of The Sims, and the expansion Livin' Large delivers these new treats to liven up your beloved Sims existence.
New characters (including a gladiator and Xena-like warriors), and, more impressively, new decorations are the reasons to buy this game. The furnishings are mostly grouped by theme, with the medieval dungeon option the most authoritative of the bunch. (Little Cassandra Goth has been longing to read by torch light all along.)

Our personal favorite is the futuristic theme, with an optional, but expensive, maid/gardener robot to take care of the fabulous modern furnishings. Clearly the Sims team has been doing its research over at Herman Miller, and you'll have a bright red, flowing-foam sofa to show for it.

But it wouldn't be The Sims if only good taste prevailed. Bring on the mai tais with a tiki-heavy islander theme. There's also a startling collection of carpeting and objects best grouped under the design ideal we call "demented clown."

The attention-getting rarities include: a lame fortune-telling ball (our advice mostly centered around hiring a maid), a voodoo doll for hexing roommates, and a genie who delivers as much bad as good (dead plants, anyone?). And, yes, there's a vibrating bed to give your Sims the spice they've been missing.

While the expansion didn't blow us away, it did provide more of the humor and novelty true Sims die-hards will appreciate. With even more attention to detail than the original offering, EA deserves Sims-like applause for this edition. --Jennifer Buckendorff
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Look at the cute little goldfish, swimming in the . . . what the hell is that thing?

Frenchman reels in monster goldfish

It may look like an impressive catch, but it’s also a troubling one.

The 30-year-old recreational fisherman (in the photo above), Rafael Biagini, said that the huge goldfish he is holding weighed 30 pounds and came from a lake in southern France. Frenchman Biagini, who lives in the French city of Montpellier, said that he released the giant goldfish shortly after this photo was taken. Of course, goldfish are actually a domesticated (in this case feral) breed of carp. And while there are some species of carp that evolved in Europe, where this fish was caught, the goldfish is not one of those species.

In fact, goldfish originally came from China, and were brought to Europe by some people... maybe Marco Polo or somebody like that. Some of them obviously have been released into European waters, where they are eating and growing - a LOT. Because goldfish can survive in cold water, it's entirely possible that some of them have even been reproducing in French waters and in other European locations.

But when a non-native species of plant or animal begins to spread in an ecosystem, it is said to be an invasive species. Different versions of carp from Asia and elsewhere have become invasive species in waters the world over. They do harm in the ecosystems that they invade by eating food needed by native species of fish, as well as sometimes eating the native fish themselves.

So, while it seems nice that Mr. Biagini let the big goldfish go back into the lake, it might have been better if he kept it in a giant fish tank or something...

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King [Blu-ray]

With The Return of the King, the greatest fantasy epic in film history draws to a grand and glorious conclusion. Director Peter Jackson's awe-inspiring adaptation of the Tolkien classic The Lord of the Rings could never fully satisfy those who remain exclusively loyal to Tolkien's expansive literature, but as a showcase for physical and technical craftsmanship it is unsurpassed in pure scale and ambition, setting milestone after cinematic milestone as the brave yet charmingly innocent Hobbit Frodo (Elijah Wood) continues his mission to Mordor, where he is destined to destroy the soul-corrupting One Ring of Power in the molten lava of Mount Doom. While the heir to the kingdom of Men, Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen), endures the massive battle at Minas Tirith with the allegiance of the elf Legolas (Orlando Bloom), dwarf Gimli (John Rhys-Davies) and the great wizard Gandalf (Ian McKellen), Frodo and stalwart companion Samwise Gamgee (Sean Astin) must survive the schizoid deceptions of Gollum, who remains utterly convincing as a hybrid of performance (by Andy Serkis) and subtly nuanced computer animation.

Jackson and cowriters Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens have much ground to cover; that they do so with intense pacing and epic sweep is impressive enough, but by investing greater depth and consequence in the actions of fellow Hobbits Merry (Dominic Monaghan) and Pippin (Billy Boyd), they ensure that Return of the King maintains the trilogy's emphasis on intimate fellowship. While several major characters appear only briefly, and one (Christopher Lee's evil wizard, Saruman) relegated entirely to the extended version on DVD, Jackson is to be commended for his editorial acumen; like Legolas the archer, his aim as a filmmaker is consistently true, and he remains faithful to Tolkien's overall vision. If Return suffers from too many endings, as some critic suggested, it's only because the epic's conclusion is so loyally inclusive of the actors--most notably Astin--who gave it such strength to begin with. By ending the LOTR trilogy with noble integrity and faith in the power of imaginative storytelling, The Return of the King, like its predecessors, will stand as an adventure for the ages. --Jeff Shannon

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