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(Scroll down for recent and previous news
stories)
8/14/10 It's Official!!! STAR WARS on Blu-Ray! And a New Scene from Return of
the Jedi!!
After years of fans talking about it, George Lucas has just announced at CV
(that's Star Wars Celebration 5) that Fall of 2011 will see a "Star Wars Saga" box set on blu-ray with deleted scenes!
As you know from the news posted on 4/19, there are going to be a LOT of new
scenes!
These guys have gone into the dailies from all six films and pulled out things
that not even Lucas has seen since the day they were shot! As of yet, there is
still no word on if or how many scenes are being reinserted into the film, and
let's face it, while individual deleted scenes are cool, they're oftentimes
academic, divorced as they are from the context of the film itself.
But there is one new scene that's just been released! If
the additional "lost" scenes are half as good as this one, the Star Wars films
may get the kind of increase in quality that the extended editions of some of
the Lord of the Rings films got! Check it out:
8/10/10 Exclusives and Upcoming Season date announced
Head over to Starwarsshop.com for
Tales from the Clone Wars, Vol. 1 (click on the link to go right there),
an exclusive trade paperback of the Clone Wars webcomics from the official site.
These take place before and in-between episodes of Season 1's Clone Wars
animated series. And speaking of which, they just announced that Season 3 will
debut on September 17 at 9PM (Eastern) with a one-hour special.
7/14/10 What's Happening?
The following is more of a blog type entry than proper "news," but it's
a bit overdue, and is something I'm writing (albeit with variations) on
most of my sites. I wanted to address my ever-lengthier spans of time between
updates, what that's all about, and when we can look forward to getting back to
normal.
As most of you know, I've been working on a book (www.blacksabbathlyrics.net)
that I hope to see published this year or next. It's been a lot of work,
more than I'd anticipated,
which continues despite my two trusty editors currently going through it.
Despite this, I had been managing to make periodic updates on this site from
time to time, even if just to rant about something or other. Why did that dry
up?
Well, the bottom line is that I had to get another job, two in fact! While I
don't begrudge webmasters, who like PBS stations, need to ask for money from their
visitors, I'm personally loathe to do that myself. I feel that
as Star Wars fans, we spend more than enough money on books, comics, magazines
and other ancillary items. In addition, this isn't a job for me. This is my
hobby, something I get a lot of enjoyment from, and which helps keep me sane. If
Lucas or LFL want to pay me to do something for them, that's fine. But I won't
be asking for money for something I'm voluntarily
offering. I'm grateful to have found several jobs that will keep me afloat. Many
haven't been able to find work despite trying, which is why I don't judge any
webmaster who asks for contributions. But I don't need to.
All well and good, you say, but when am I going to get back to regular updates? It's a
great question and one that I don't have a definitive answer to. Roughly, I'd
like to say within a year's span. When the edits on my second draft is complete,
I'll need to do a third and final draft. I continue to search for more artists and photographers. And I need a publisher
(else I self-publish, which will mean considerably more time and effort). But
the book will be complete and I will return to my favorite brainwork, which is
this and my other sites. As it stands, I haven't even had time to
complete the latest Legacy of the Force book (which I'm thoroughly
enjoying, but it's the longest I've ever taken to read a book).
This may be a bit of a tangent, but it bears stating. Having entertaining and
thoughtful literature to read/watch/study is important to many of us, and
there's a reason for that. Because of the nature of my book, I've recently had
to immerse myself in hardcore reality (specifically I'm speaking about history
and current events, for the two are intertwined). That's not a bad thing.
In the past, I think I shied away from that too much . I've learned
a lot as a result, for instance, I've seen how even well-meaning individuals and institutions (be they
political, commercial or religious) can cause tremendous suffering and damage in
this world when people blindly place their trust in them. I've seen how there's
no end to man's capacity for brutality and evil. With knowledge comes power, particularly over one's own life, but
also as a means to lend assistance to the powerless, those without voice (which can mean our animal neighbors who share this planet,
as well as the disenfranchised, the poor, the exploited, women, children and
minorities, any who are excluded from the powerful and wealthy elite of this
world.) But as valuable as that knowledge is (and will continue to be), a
balance must be struck. Feeling the effects of what's essentially post-traumatic
stress from the many things I've seen, I can state more forcefully than ever the
importance of the Arts, music, literature, illustrative works, film and others,
to provide emotional equilibrium.
The Arts, when done with honesty, care and creative skill, can bring a
bounty of pleasure and wisdom, truth and strength. It's a
worthwhile goal to keep these things intact and within harmony alongside the
day-to-day
realities (and, indeed, horrors) of this world...
In closing, I want to thank yet again the many of you who've taken the time to
email me with updates! You guys rock! I may not be able to get to those updates
right away, but know this: I'm saving them in a special folder so that when I do
have the time, I'll be going through each one to make sure I've gotten
everything. I'll also be adding your names to my permanent list of Thank You's
(if I haven't already) because your help is immeasurable. In one month's time, a
lot of material can be released, which makes it a challenge when trying to play
catch up. Your efforts make things a heck of a lot easier! So thanks! Well, I'm
off to see the Wizard! Till next time...
--Joe
5/16/10 Harmonizing Sites
As many of you know, my site, Eddie van der Heijden's timeline, Nathan Butler's
Timeline Gold and Rob Mullin's Expanded Universe Chronology represents the
longest running, still-extant Star Wars timeline sites on the net. Thanks to
Eddie's suggestion, we've all decided to harmonize our efforts by providing
prominent links on our front pages to one another's sites so that we're all
better connected. Nathan, Rob, Eddie and myself will still maintain our sites
individually, and continue to develop our unique interpretations, presentations
and approaches to the chronology of this growing body of lore known as the Star
Wars expanded universe. But I think there's something celebratory in our
standing side-by-side and publically recognizing each other's works as valuable
contributions to the Star Wars fan community, new and old. No doubt, Star Wars
has presented each of us with a LOT of challenges in the last few years since
the start of the Clone Wars animated series, and I've no doubt there will
continue to be challenges to overcome. But I know that we'll overcome them as we
have in the past, and perhaps even more successfully into the future as we
strengthen our bonds of communication and resources. Thanks to all of you who've
supported us over the years, and if you haven't already, take a gander at
Eddie's Once Upon a Galaxy,
Nathan's Timeline Gold
and Rob's
Expanded Universe Chronology. (Of course, there are even more Star Wars
timeline sites out there just as enjoyable as ours, and worthy of spending time
with. Check out my links page for some
of these.)
4/19/10 Blu-Ray on the Near Horizon
Consider this rumor, but a pretty strong one. The Star Wars six-film saga
box-set may be heading to Blu-Ray as early as October! Steve Sansweet, at C2E2
in Chicago has recently announced "We have been at work for a couple of years
working on
On theforcecast, Steve Sansweet said there's still work to be done, and as to the newly rediscovered scenes, some were synched to sound, some are things fans have heard about for years, and there's no word yet as to whether they'll be presented as deleted scenes or even part of a new cut of the film (via branching technology). This is all amazing news! The fact that they're going through the actual dailies to pull out "lost" scenes that Lucas hasn't seen in decades is incredible! There's going to be a lot in this set. So stay tuned for information, as I'm certain there's a ton of news that will be coming out in the weeks and months to come.
2/10/10 "Fear Not for the Future, Grieve Not for the Past" With cooler heads prevailing, there are some who think the recent disruptions of continuity over the issue of Lucas' rewrite of Mandalorian history can and will be fixed by LFL and the writers. We shall see. Perhaps they will. If so, then there's no cause for storming Skywalker Ranch with torches ablaze, tempting though that might seem. The fact is that LFL should have been apprised in advance so that at the very least they could have done damage control and begun preparing a continuity fix. Be that as it may, it's not my company. It goes without saying that I would have handled matters a lot differently. After all, there's enough things in this world to upset people without adding art/entertainment to the list.
So, I'm going to take a wait & see attitude and try and enjoy some of the recent SW books/comics in the meantime. I'm hearing very good things about Crosscurrent, and of course some of what Dark Horse is doing is pretty brilliant as well.
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