In honor of the 30th anniversary of my all-time favorite film — and if you don’t know what that is by now, then you haven’t been paying attention — allow me to present a whole mess of related links. You folks out there in InternetLand enjoy looking at this stuff tonight; me, I’ll be off watching the movie itself. My bootlegged copy of the original, unrevised version, of course…

• French psychiatrists have determined that Darth Vader suffers from “borderline personality disorder”. Wow, you think?
  

  Borderline personality disorder is a serious mental illness marked by instability in moods, interpersonal relationships, self-image, and behavior, according to background information on the Web site of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH).
  …
  [The] team describes [Anakin] Skywalker’s symptoms, including problems with controlling anger and impulsivity, temporary stress-related paranoia, “frantic efforts to avoid real or imagined abandonment (when trying to save his wife at all costs), and a pattern of unstable and intense personal relationships,” including his relationships with his Jedi masters.
  Changing his name and turning into “Darth Vader” is a red flag of Skywalker’s disturbed identity…

• Here’s one I’ve had kicking around my files for awhile, photos of “Star wars on Earth” made by a French photographer. They’re not all so great — being either obvious photoshop jobs or just not terribly cool — but I really liked this one.
• More photos, this time of a Stormtrooper in Tokyo. Apparently, this is a Japanese fanboy (or else a fanboy living in Japan) who acquired a suit of ‘trooper armor and likes to go out in public while wearing it. I love the sight of stormtroopers in everyday settings and interactions; I don’t know why, except that it warms my heart. Like this one, for example; it’s just funny. What’s really great about it is the hot chick who seems utterly oblivious to the head-to-toe armored soldier from another galaxy standing next to her. I like this one, too; I’d feel much safer to have this guy watching for nutbars on my daily commute.
  (Incidentally, if you click through to this guy’s page, as opposed to the single photos, don’t be put off by the anime babes at the top — just scroll down for stormtrooper-y goodness.)
• Here is an essay that reinterprets the original Star Wars (Episode IV, if I must) in light of information contained in the prequels. The short version is that R2 and Chewie are secretly running the whole show.
• To provide a sort of rebuttle to the above, check out D. Trull’s thought exercise in which he imagines what would’ve happened if G. Lucas had never made any more Star Wars movies after the first one. He makes a very interesting point about the downside to “expanding the universe”:
  

  …The story would be far less profound and meaningful without the character development and psychological heft that the subsequent episodes incorporated. Without the plot complication that Luke Skywalker is the son of Darth Vader, who was a noble Jedi Knight until misguided emotions led him to self-destruction, we’re left with a simple fairy tale where some good guys fight some bad guys and they both blow stuff up. We would be deprived of much more than five spectacularly fun and entertaining movies. We would be deprived of a modern-day mythology.
  But ironically enough, by the very same token, I believe that if the 1977 movie stood alone, Star Wars would be more popular, more revered and more respected today. That’s right: not less of a classic. More of a classic.

   

  This is the conundrum. When it first appeared, this strange little movie from out of nowhere carried a tremendous freshness and purity. It really took us to a galaxy far, far away, and made us believe we were only seeing a small fragment of a complete world. It was easy for the viewer to put himself in the place of Luke, Han and Leia, using our imaginations to fill in the unseen details and intriguing backstories. When the later episodes came along to tell us the rest of the story, all of that immediately and irrevocably changed. The act of enriching and deepening the mythology also diminishes its universality and destroys that original purity that was so very much a part of the first film’s appeal.

• On a lighter note, check out some Star Wars toys that didn’t make it. If I didn’t already have a fairly well-established identity for my web-presence here, I think I’d change this blog’s name to *Burning corpses sold separately.
• After playing with your Dead Ewok action figure, you’ll want a snack. If you’re feeling creative, you can make your own Han Solo in Carbonite candy bar. Or maybe a Max Rebo cake. (That cake is awesome, by the way; I’d like to have such a cake sometime, if anybody is a really clever baker…)
• My vote for the Lamest Star Wars Collectible of the Year: the “This is No Cave” Space Slug Envirorama. Um, yeah. Because that giant phallic symbol was the coolest part of Empire and I really want one in the center of my curio cabinet. Uh-huh, sure.
• Speaking of curio cabinets, how would you like to work in one? You basically would if you worked for Industrial Light & Magic, Uncle George’s special-effects shop. Here is a photo gallery showing some of the tchotchkes you can find around the offices of ILM. I especially like the Jar-Jar in carbonite display.
• On a related note, here is a photo tour around the collection of uber-collector Steve Sansweet. Man, I wish I had his job. And his collection. And his cool space to house the collection…
• An item that’s been making the rounds of the InterWeb this week, a look at the cool illuminated advertising posters that have gone up in Orlando International Airport to promote the Disney-MGM Star Wars Weekend events. I think the funniest one is Vader standing in the screening line with his boots off, but my favorite is the TIE fighter sitting at the gate. Again, it’s that whole “real world interaction” thing. I’d love to see this hardware in my everyday life.
• I sort of can, if I ever go to Dubai, and if this thing ever gets built:
  

  The proposed Ras al Khaimah Convention and Exhibition Centre in the UAE bears a striking resemblance to the Death Star. Designed by Rem Koolhaas and Reinier de Graaf as part of their collaboration with OMA, the sphere holds a convention centre, hotel rooms, apartments, offices and retail space.

  There are more pics at the architect’s site.

• And finally, remember those 30 covers for Empire magazine that I mentioned the other day? Well, they’ve all been revealed now. They are conveniently grouped by “Classic Heroes,” “Creatures,” “Droids,” “Sith,” “Jedi,” “Troopers,” “Prequel Heroes,” and “Bounty Hunters,” with an exclusive cover for subscribers that reprints an old promo shot of Han, Luke, Leia and Chewie (one I’ve not seen — imagine that!). Jar-Jar gets his own special cover, since he apparently isn’t worthy to fit in any of the categories. Poor little Gungan. Never gets any love.
  The magazines are available to buy individually, or you can get the whole set for a mere 99 British pounds. Yikes!

And that, my friends, is that. I’m ringing down the curtain on this Star Wars Day now. I may be back over the weekend with some long-overdue entries I’ve been meaning to write, or I may not. We’ll see how it goes.
In any event, Happy Memorial Day, everyone!