Saturday Morning PSA of The Week: Let's give a shout-out to whooping cough

Today's public service announcements are all information and no imagination--but yesteryear's? Those were full of drama, plot lines, and cameos from B-grade celebrities, all wedged into one minute of absolute fantasticness.

Consider this a trip back in time to when PSAs were sometimes worth watching more than the Saturday morning cartoons.


Today:  May the immunizations be with you.




Random Thoughts and Questions:
1.)  Wait--whooping cough? Whooping cough?? Whooping cough was the go-to illness R2 thought he had?
2.)  The fact R2-D2 doesn't even know droids can't get diseases immediately makes his intelligence suspect. I don't want him working on my space ship. Kill someone else, buddy.
3.)  C-3PO is the real Debbie Downer here. He just skips right ahead to inevitable horrors for children, including brain damage and death. But, hey, back to your Saturday morning cartoons!
4.)  This PSA is 40-years old. Anti-vaxxers were pulling their shenanigans early.
5.)  What, no address? You just send stuff off to Pueblo, Colorado, and the postal carrier knows where it goes? You just "write" them? What do you write? Recipes? Casual advice?

Evanna Lynch, who portrayed Luna Lovegood in the Harry Potter movies, recently visited the Hobbits' Shire.

Once Chewbacca visits Hogwarts, the circle will be complete.

Chewbacca proves it once and for all: Han shot first.

The great debate amongst Star Wars geeks that makes them asthmatic with excitement is whether Han Solo shot the alien smuggler Greedo first in the Mos Eisley cantina, or if Greedo was actually the bad guy.

The original 1977 movie seemingly showed Han gunning down Greedo first. Fast forward to the 1997 re-release of the franchise, when George Lucas played around with the film, added scenes and special effects, and suddenly Greedo was the bad guy initially firing.

Today, it's been settled. Peter Mayhew, the actor who has played Chewbacca and Han's loyal sidekick in seven movies for the franchise, released photos of the original Star Wars script on Twitter today (or as the script was once called, The Adventures of Luke Skywalker as taken From the 'Journal of the Whills').

The result? Han is a murderer.

#chewscript 014 Han Shot First. Period. @starwars pic.twitter.com/4tGOOsRp2l

— Peter Mayhew (@TheWookieeRoars) March 2, 2016

Forget Han being the killer here. The real news is that Greedo's original name was Allen.

Allen.

That's an insurance adjuster from Schenectady, NY, with a penchant for sensible shoes and midsized Toyotas. Not an alien smuggler from a galaxy far, far away.

Randomness Corner: The original 1977 Star Wars trailer wasn't quite the same as you might imagine.

Tonight at midnight across America, people who don't have to work in the morning or who are looking for an excuse to escape various family members will gather en masse to see the latest Star Wars film.

So here's the original trailer from 1977 for the first movie in the franchise. It shows a wonky Star Wars title card and lacks John Williams's famous music, making it all read more like a psychological thriller in its silence than a space opera. I half expected Glenn Close to jump out and try to stab Obi-Wan with a knife.





Darth Vader doesn't even speak. It's like whenever you see a trailer for some foreign language film and the filmmakers try to bamboozle people skittish of subtitles into thinking it's a Hollywood production, so all the characters just walk around and smile charmingly while mute.

Or, in Vader's case, fling bodies around like a beaten pinata.

Admittedly, the Joker works pretty well as a court jester.

London's Telegraph newspaper gives us a gallery of what a variety of geekdom heroes and villains would look like if dressed in a 16th century makeover, courtesy of photographer Sacha Goldberg. Because I think we all knew that Shakespeare's real weak spot was missing out on including Spiderman in Hamlet, amiright?

Goldberg's attempt was to combine American cultural icons with those of the Flemish painting style of the 1500s. The project wasn't a small endeavor, with over 100 people involved, when you include models, costume designers, hairdressers, and makeup artists.

In case you're wondering--Spiderman is mildly frightening in 16th century garb. It borders somewhere between a sadism suit and half the nightmares I had as a child.




photos: The Telegraph

Saturday Morning PSA of The Week: Everyone has a vice, even R2-D2.

Today's public service announcements are all information and no imagination--but yesteryear's? Those were full of drama, plot lines, and cameos from B-grade celebrities, all wedged into one minute of absolute fantasticness.

Consider this a trip back in time to when PSAs were sometimes worth watching more than the Saturday morning cartoons.

This week's PSA:  R2-D2 needs some down time.

Random Thoughts and Questions:
1.) C-3PO is always a Negative Nancy, isn't he?
2.) Listen, a smoke break is allowed if you just helped defeat the evil Intergalactic Empire. Stress, man. Got to take the edge off, you know?
3.) I always pictured R2 as a Marlboro Reds kind of guy, but it looks like he goes for the Pall Malls.
4.) Wouldn't you smoke, too, if you had Luke Skywalker for an owner?

Auburn University professors names newly discovered version of catfish after a Star Wars character.

The fish specimen was discovered in 1998 in Brazil, analyzed in 2005, but it took until 2015 to realize it was a different species of catfish--and once realized, Auburn University professor Jonathan Armbruster knew what to name the new fish.

Greedo.

As in the Star Wars character Han Solo shoots dead in the Mos Eisley bar in the first movie.

"As a 7-year-old kid, I watched Star Wars in the theatre and it was a life-changing experience for me," said Armbruster to the Auburn website. "I became a lifelong fan, and I now share that with my son. Greedo has always been a personal favorite of mine."

Specifically, the formal name for the newly found catfish is Peckoltia greedoi.

But I know what you're thinking.

Why not Admiral Ackbar instead? The man is a fish.

Admiral Ackbar is not amused.

"Why wouldn't someone want to do Han Solo in iambic pentameter?"

Uhh, because Han Solo is more a free verse kinda guy?

Writer Ian Doescher released the book "William Shakespeare's Star Wars: Verily, A New Hope!" last year--with the third entry in the trilogy "The Jedi Doth Returns" released earlier this month, and now a stage adaptation has come to bear.

Actor and producer Joe Seibert is behind the new creation, which debuts in New Orleans at the Mid City Theatre on July 28th.

No word on how Chewbacca's howls will be interpreted in an Elizabethan vein.

Saturday Morning PSA of The Week: R2-D2 worries he has whooping cough.

Saturday mornings are known for two things: Saturday morning cartoons and Saturday morning public service announcements.

Today's PSAs are all information and no imagination--but yesteryear's? Those were full of drama, plot lines, and cameos from B-grade celebrities, all wedged into one minute or less of absolute fantasticness. Consider this a trip back in time to when PSAs were sometimes worth watching more than the cartoon.

This week's PSA: Star Wars stalwarts R2-D2 and C-3PO talk about childhood immunization.

Random thoughts and questions:
1.) Are R2 and C-3PO still on the Death Star? What is this?
2.) R2-D2 is a hypochondriac.
3.) C-3PO isn't above instilling over-the-top fear into parents and children alike. Brain damage and death! Now, back to the cartoons!
4.) So C-3PO worries about immunizations, but he isn't against a little physical assault on R2. The real underlying message here? Domestic abuse.

Famous Writers Shirtless: John F. Kennedy (Pulitzer Prize, 1957)

Writers are never known as the studliest or sexiest of people, but that doesn't stop them from showing some skin for the camera once in awhile.

So, occasionally we'll post some literary beefcake for your perusal.


Today: John F. Kennedy

The Profiles in Courage writer courageously displays his shaved pectorals and a disarmingly huge belly button the likes unseen outside of cave spelunking.

Good God, is that belly button the sarlacc pit? Is Boba Fett lost down there?

The states with the best and worst schools are generally what you imagine.

Something called Education Week ranked every state on their education system rated over six metrics. Most of the metrics are standardized tests/ratings, which is another way of saying "What's the laziest way we can compare statistics?"

Regardless, the top five states for schools, per Education Week's laziness, are (best-to-worst):

1.  Maryland
2.  Massachusetts
3.  New York
4.  Virginia
5.  Arkansas

The worst five states for schools (worst-to-best):

1.  South Dakota
2.  Nevada
3.  Idaho
4.  Mississippi
5.  Alaska

Admittedly, I'm not sure South Dakota is a real state. I think I saw it on a map once. But I also once saw a map of Tatooine, too, so these things are suspect.

Fashionable Words: Rapscallion

[Sometimes words die out of fashion. But sometimes those words are good words, words with a certain appeal that can't be denied forever. Those words should be brought back into fashion, used frequently and used often. These are those words.]

Word:
Rapscallion

Definition:   noun
1. rascal, rouge, scoundrel.

Origin:
Rapscallion is a simple evolution from the obsolete rascallion, an old-timey, fancy way of calling someone a rascal.

All dictionary sources claim it was first used in the late 1690s--although Merriam-Webster is certain it was in 1699, yet they don't cite where.

Either way, it's old. Picture Lando Calrissian, but in a top hat.

Most obscure Urbandictionary.com definitions for rapscallion:
2.  A green onion with street credentials.

6.  Dirty, a**-stankin' feet, with really long, fugal, curling toenails.

Used in a sentence:
1.  The beaten down corners of the city were largely populated by rapscallions and pickpockets.

2.  The poker game wasn't as fun once the rapscallion moseyed-up to the table and swindled us out of our money.

Word Awesomeness Scale (1 to 5):
Four.

In a moment of quiet self-analysis, you know you're not a rapscallion no matter how hard you try.