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When I was a kid, my mother worked at the now defunct toys section at Rich's department store at Perimeter Mall off of I-285 in Georgia, so I was one of the lucky ones. We didn't have a huge amount of money, but she was able to put some toys aside as they came in and get them when she had enough. This equaled at least several Christmas mornings where there was quite a bit of Star Wars stuff, so as you can tell Star Wars has had a major impact on my life.

I may be mixing up some of these memories, but I remember coming home from seeing Star Wars the second time at our local drive-in movie theater and coming home with a Luke Skywalker action figure when what I really wanted was an R2-D2. Looks like thas' just what they had and that was really okay. The truth is what I remember is just coming home with the Luke, and later being told I had been hot for the R2-D2. I really had connected with R2-D2 during that movie. Of course studying the movie later I realized that Star Wars is really from droid's point of view for the most part, even the scenes that are strictly empire usually involve Darth Vader and he's pretty much a robot by this point, so I've always had a special place in my heart for you for R2-D2.

It always kind of confounded me that if Anakin Skywalker had to actually build one of the two droids himself, I always wondered why it wasn't R2-D2. I mean Padme does all kinds of running around with C-3PO at her side and if you watch the clone wars cartoon series, Anakin does a heck of a lot of running around with R2-D2. It's almost as if the secretly wed couple exchanged droids instead of rings, I suppose that is interesting in its own right.

So this brings me to an interesting hobby which although it is not one of mine, is a hobby that I quite respect and that is a hobby of reproducing the basically impossible. George Lucas has said over the years that the design of R2-D2 character and shell is actually quite an impractical one and even on the best of days doesn't work very well. The design is pretty bad and he tends to bump into things and turn over and he's not very useful on the set to the point of causing some major disruptions during filming even for a close-up he is basically a puppet with an actor inside. Re-creating full-size real working cheeping bleeping R2-D2's. It's an awesome idea. They're fantastic. They can twist their heads without getting the cords tied up. They can whistle chirp. You can plug in your favorite MP3 player and they can become their own stereo. Besides, who wouldn't want to have a full-sized R2-D2 in their living room? I know I would, I just don't want to commit the $10,000 to have one of my very own. That's just not my hobby, but I think it's well worth the fun of seeing these guys do their stuff.

The video attached to this blog entry was sent to me by my cousin Brian and I just felt like sharing. Enjoy.

In a truly great, and fantastic piece of re-cutting and mashups, (and I wish I could take credit for this video clip) I bring you Hand Solo's true identity as Magnum P.I. It's totally brilliant, and absolutely fabulous, and worth every laugh. Cut to almost exactly match the opening title sequence of the original television show, you too will believe that Han Solo is Magnum P.I. Enjoy!

Han Solo, I've always believed to be one of the most complex characters in the Star Wars Universe, and certainly one of the most interesting. He's one of the few of the brave and the bold who has a bit of a bad boy side. I suppose the one with the largest bad boy quality was Anakin himself, since he seems to fill the role of scoundrel and hero at once in the prequel films, but Han Solo, and Lando for that matter, you didn't know they were going to pull through for you, but they always did. Heck, Han and Leia actually topped my wedding cake in the year 2000. Han in his Bespin outfit, and Leia, in her ceremonial gown from the end of the first film.

Click through to gizmodo.com to see the side-by-side

For some strange reason, and I can't really say for sure how I know this, I think that the Tonight Show is finally back into the hands in which it needs to be. Conan O'Brien has never been my favorite, but I've always enjoyed his sense of humor, and I've just never cared for Jay Leno. I mean Jay Leno can do a mean Dorito's commercial, but that's about as much air time as I've ever wanted him to have. Jay had some good stand up, but I always found his voice to be a kind of a strangely simpering mix of tones that I just couldn't stand. O'Brien on the other hand has some raw talent that Jay has not. I wish Jay well, but I just don't think he was right for it, then again, I've always been a fan of David Letterman, and when it came down between David Letterman and Jay Leno, I always thought that Dave got shafted.

There was a movie based on the big fight over who would take over the Tonight Show from Johnny Carson called The Late Shift in which John Michale Higgins plays a flawless David Letterman. It's well worth the rent if you haven't seen it. The ending is bittersweet for me since, as we all know, Dave switches networks (and goes on, I think, to a much greater position in the late night world) while Jay gets the Tonight Show, but not without sacrificing his soul just a little bit. Kathy Bates, who plays Jay's agent is totally amazing, and steals every scene she's in.

Of course now, the torch has been passed again, Jay's off the Tonight Show (It's in better hands I think.) and Dave is still trucking along, bringing us the Top Ten lists that we've come to love for so very long. I don't watch the Late Night talk shows as much as I used to anymore (I used to watch both the Johnny Carson Tonight Show, then followed by Late Night with David Letterman) and it always seemed like the logical choice for NBC to 'Promote' Letterman to the Tonight Show when it came time for Carson to bid farewell. It was always a shock to me when that didn't happen. You have to wonder though what Late Night television would be like without the competition that was generated by that period.

I remember the night, when Johnny Carson came out, and sat down on a little stool in front of the curtains of the Tonight Show to say good bye to everyone, that he'd be leaving. I always felt like here I was, at the end of an era, right when I was just getting started.

There's a part of me though, that would have liked to see Conan O'Brien jumping the Grand Canyon on his trek on foot across the country to his new home in L.A.

How did I miss this one until now? I think it's a must see, but it may be one of those that I'm going to end up watching all by myself in the middle of the night. The concept reminded me slightly of Solaris, which was just plain creepy when George Clooney did it, but somehow wonderful and oddly peaceful in the original Russian.

In Moon, Sam Rockwell, our favorite President of the galaxy looks like he could be giving the performance of his life, stuck by himself -- or worse -- on a moon base, slowly losing him marbles as his life and second chances cave in upon him.

Real Science Fiction, wow.

io9 has a good little entry on this one that also includes several clips from the movie.

I've been wondering what to make of this one. I actually followed a link from a friend to another CNN video, and ended up on this one before I could finish the first one. Planet 51, coming this thanksgiving to a theater near you is the story of an alien world, much like Earth, except it's inhabited by little green men, who are having a happy peaceful day, until the fire from the sky, and the humans land in their retro moon-lander to plant a flag.

Then they notice each other...

Looking forward to it.

This is Hysterical.. Just had to post. Twitter is a phenomenon, but I think this is just brilliant.