Star Wars


The Museum of Classic Sci-Fi

The drive from Penrith to Allendale was an adventure in itself, and the Museum of Classic Sci-Fi was one of those surprising, eccentric gems you find in the oddest of places.

It’s fitting that a museum with a lot of Dr Who memorabilia should pack so much into a relatively tiny space. This is just a sample of what they’ve got, and doesn’t include any of the promotional announcements by Davros!

If your in the Allendale area, you should definitely drop in. Check opening times though.


Jedi would have been so much better if they’d replaced the Ewoks with chipmunks


Let’s Be Friends, originally uploaded by powerpig.

Chris McVeigh has befriended the chipmunks at his parents’ house and managed to get them so comfortable with his presence that he can pose them with Star Wars figures.

He has other pictures on Flickr.


That's so speciesist!

Yes, The Ewok Adventure is racist. It’s racist against Ewoks. Especially Ewoks that don’t speak English. I am not joking. I believe that the cinema is more a reflection of society than an active formative agent. When I attack racism in film, it is not out of concern that such views will manifest themselves into reality. When I attack racism in film, it is because I find its inclusion discomforting and not in a particularly interesting way. That’s as categorical a statement that I am willing to inscribe at this point. In Return of the Jedi, we saw that Lucas had used some inherently racist concepts but coded them into the Star Wars universe. They were made politically correct, or I think a better term for it would be “politically neutral.” When adopting the icon of the Turkish sultan with Jabba the Hutt, he didn’t want to make any commentary toward Turks specifically; rather he just wanted to use a visual lexicon that suggests a culture of excess. The Ewoks have always been intended to be “noble savages.” Not specifically any American Indian tribe, which would again signify an entire subset of naivety and even cultural marginalization. Rather, he just wanted a visual lexicon that would suggest that Rousseau-ian ideal; that purity of essence untouched by the modern world.

You can get a two film Ewok Adventures dvd from Amazon.


A minor clear out

At the start of the year, I set myself the target of uploading 1,000 pictures in to my gallery. So, when I ran out of harddisk space on my computer yesterday, I actually found some pictures I though I might upload.


Pictures Of Cars
– Imaginatively titled, including a day trip to Belle Vue’s Banger racing

Collectormania – Various pictures I have taken from Collectormania, including some famous actors, and some not so famous.