Some obligatory Star Wars content

Many thanks to Husband for drawing my attention to this brilliant piece of work.

Which reminds me, set your TiVos, folks!

The story of Anakin Skywalker's descent into darkness and his son Luke's quest to conquer evil has spellbound audiences for 30 years. The reason for this is simple: the saga of Star Wars is universal and firmly rooted in the mythology and the political history of the entire planet. May 2007 will mark the 30th anniversary of George Lucas' space fantasy that grossed billions worldwide. For the first time take a profound look at the serious subtext behind Lucas' six film milestone. The influence of ancient mythology from Greek legends to King Arthur is visible; but also more recent historical influences, from the political rise of Napoleon to the machinations of Adolf Hitler can be seen.

And while I'm posting Star Wars-related links, may I kindly draw your attention to this book. It is endlessly entertaining and will provide you with all sorts of ammunition to argue with the Star Wars haters in your life (or even those, like my husband, who like Star Wars but just want to be difficult and argumentative).

Help me, Patrick Pentland, you're my only hope

I am compelled to point you in the direction of sloanmusic.com, where you will find 30 short films that document the recording of Sloan's newest masterpiece, Never Hear The End Of It.

Episode 16 is particularly brilliant. I kind of understand why 3PO is always so pissy; nobody ever asks him to sing on their album.

Genres are so limiting

We recently vacationed on the beach in South Carolina. Generally, it takes me several millennia to read a book -- not for lack of interest but for lack of time. When one's at the beach, however, one's got nothing but time. I got through two books and started a third: Theatre of Fish: Travels Through Newfoundland and Labrador, by John Gimlette; Star Wars on Trial: Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Debate the Most Popular Science Fiction Films of All Time, by David Brin and Matthew Woodring Stover, editors; and Everything Is Illuminated, by Jonathan Safran Foer.

On the 13-hour drive home, as I began reading Everything Is Illuminated, I made some sort of snide comment to my husband about how great I am because I read fiction from time to time. (Husband only reads nonfiction and Snoopy comics.) He made a very obvious yet thought-provoking point: Everything Is Illuminated -- which is a novel about, among other things, the Holocaust -- is categorized as fiction, while Star Wars on Trial -- which is an essay collection by real science fiction authors debating Jedi, parsecs and whether after-market parts installed on your R2 unit are just excuses for chronological errors in the films -- is classified as non-fiction.

Now, obviously horrifying Holocaust denial implications aside, that's a world I'd like to live in. Murderous extermination of a people? Fake. Moisture farming? Real!