10 years of The Phantom Menace

Ten years ago last week, Star Wars appeared on the big screen after an absence of 16 years. The anticipation for the movie was unprecedented in the history of film. Fans of the original movies in the theaters awaited the movie as eagerly as their children who had grown up watching the movies on VHS. And the movie wasn't anticipated just in America. Fans all over the world eagerly awaited the movie event of the century. It was truly a cross-generation, cross-culture experience.

The anticipation and excitement for the film can't be denied, but the ultimate reaction after the film was less enthusiastic. Regardless of opinions about the quality of the movie, I would like to take this opportunity to wax nostalgic about where I was when the Phantom Menace first hit theaters. At the time, I had a friend from church who worked at a local movie theater, and he had the opportunity to go to an early employee screening. Technically, he was only allowed to take one family member with him, so I went as his brother ("in Christ"). The showing was at about 7 PM on the Tuesday night before release day on Wednesday, so the best part was leaving the theater at 9:30 with everyone lined up in costumes waiting for the midnight show. I personally enjoyed the movie despite some of its weaknesses, and I think I enjoy it even more now, if for no other reason than nostalgia.

Does anyone else have any good stories about where they were in 1999 when the Phantom Menace hit theaters?

Conversation Piece T-shirts

The other day at the grocery store I got into a conversation about Norse mythology with the bagger. The conversation began because of the Viking longship t-shirt I got on our cruise to Oslo a couple years ago. The event got me thinking about t-shirts that inspire conversation and how nerds often have a large repertoire of these kinds of t-shirts. In addition, these t-shirts function like nerd beacons and often inspire shouts of appreciation or jealousy from other nerds.

I know that when I am out and about and I see someone wearing a particularly cool Star Wars t-shirt, I just want to go and start a conversation with that person and become lifelong friends. I often get comments of this sort about my own Short Round t-shirt. There is a certain satisfaction in knowing that a mere t-shirt can bring together people across ages and cultures and inspire illuminating conversations about Norse mythology or which Marvel comic character is the best.

Conversation piece t-shirts, however, are not necessarily restricted to nerds. My cousin recently pointed out a link to a finely-crafted "wolves howling at the moon" t-shirt on Amazon. I'm sure everyone has seen a shirt like that at some point in their lives. So, do you have any conversation piece shirts? I'll even open it up to other sorts of garments beyond t-shirts. Perhaps you have a lovely sweatshirt or sweater that makes people wax particularly eloquent. I'm interested to hear your stories.

Podcast Extravaganza

Although I abandoned my series of podcast blogs several months ago, I can't go without mentioning my two favorite podcasts of all. Appropriately, they fit under the umbrella of nerd-dom.

1. The Indy-Cast: Last year, when the new Indiana Jones movie came out I discovered this podcast while clicking around on iTunes. I listened to all the back episodes and quickly caught up and have been listening weekly ever since. The host, Ed Dolista, has an obvious passion for Indiana Jones, which makes the podcast especially fun to listen to. Even when Indiana Jones news is a bit slim, Ed still finds ways to make the podcast entertaining and informative. I especially enjoy the interviews in Club Obi-Wan and the collecting news.

2. The Force-Cast: I heard about the Force-Cast through the Indy-Cast and decided to check it out. I was immediately hooked, and have been listening for about a year now. During this time, one of the hosts has changed, but the current hosts, Jason and Jimmy Mac do a fantastic job. Their sense of humor makes the show feel shorter than it is and provides me with laugh out loud moments on the bus ride into campus (particularly during the Billy Dee quote of the week segment). In addition, if a weekly podcast isn't enough for you, Jimmy Mac and Jason produce micro-casts fairly frequently which include interviews and music specials. There is always something to listen to on the Force-Cast. Unfortunately, I am not able to participate in the online chat or listen live because of my busy grad school schedule, but that does not make the regular shows any less enjoyable. I admit that the Force-Cast has revived my Star Wars fandom to a point that it's never been before (perhaps to the chagrin of my wife!).

So, if you are a fan of either Star Wars or Indiana Jones, I can't recommend these podcasts enough. Check out www.theforce.net/podcast for links and info about either podcast or subscribe through iTunes. You won't be disappointed!

End of the semester summer reading checklist

Any self-respecting nerd eagerly awaits the end of the semester and the ensuing free time for reading. This sudden new-found freedom, however, can be a little overwhelming so I've put together a checklist of the essentials to survive the summer reading madness. Proceed with caution.

1. Pen/Pencil-This is crucial for writing down a list of books to read and their call numbers once you hit the library. A pencil may work best because then you can erase call numbers and add more in their place, thus helping the environment at the same time.

2. Some sort of handheld electronic device-If you're really nerdy and really want to be environmentally friendly, you can use an iPhone/iPod or Blackberry to keep electronic notes for yourself. This method cuts out any use of paper whatsoever. All you have to do is type in the names of books and then delete and retype once you've finished and are ready to start a new one.

3. Library card-You don't have to buy everything on Amazon. You can read books for free. That's why we have these wonderful things called libraries. Check one out: it's essential for good summer reading.

4. A bookbag-This bag can be of any size or shape, but the bigger the better. Remember: the bigger your bag, the more books you can fit in it, which means more summer reading pleasure. Caution: be careful about the weight of the books if you do use a bigger bag. You don't want to ruin your shoulder when you can just return to the library the next week and get a few more books.

5. A social networking site-Join a site like facebook or Goodreads because it allows you to share with the world what you are reading at any given moment. It is crucial that your friends can see what great literary tastes you have and that you read 200 books in one summer. Talk about bragging rights.

6. At least one book in a foreign language-The more obscure the language, the better. When you can return to school (or work) in the fall and say that you read an ancient Nordic epic, in the original language, you will be the talk of the town (for better or for worse, I can't guarantee anything).

If you have these six simple items, you're summer reading will be fruitful and enjoyable. Also, people will tell you that you are a big nerd, but then you can tell them how you read more this summer than they've read in their entire lives. Take that.

Free Comic Book Day

Yesterday was my first experience of Free Comic Book Day. While it's a national holiday to some, others might ask what a comic book even is. I had never been to our local comic shop, Vintage Phoenix, but I figured this was as good a day as any to start. Mainly, I had my eye on a Star Wars comic and a short Indiana Jones comic that was part of a sampler collection. The experience was everything I hoped for and more. I got my four free comics, which I promptly read and which were really not all that good, but that's not really the purpose of Free Comic Book Day. The purpose is to get people interested in comics. I saw heart-warming scenes of fathers introducing their young sons to the world of comic books and grandfathers looking for that new issue of the Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man. I think I particularly associate grandfathers with Spider-Man because that's what my grandpa had in the bathroom magazine rack.

Most importantly, however, I witnessed nerd-dom at its finest. I couldn't help but overhear various conversations, and one 0f my favorite lines was "Did you know that people didn't know that Tony Stark is Iron Man?" Another conversation, the same people I believe, dealt with the greater intricacies of why GI Joes and Transformers are so often combined. The best part about these conversations was that they had nothing to do with the real world. For a short while on a Saturday morning, people could go to their local comic book shop, enter a new world, and forget for a little while about the chores they had to do later that day. You just can't replicate that.

Unfortunately, I can't speak for these people's conversations outside of the comic book shop. That's an entirely different topic.