Indy for real?

Recently I heard a public radio story about a real-life Indiana Jones who coincidentally hails out of Yale University where some of the Marshall College vehicle chase scenes in Indy 4 were filmed. Hiram Bingham III discovered and studied Peruvian artifacts and Machu Picchu (also coincidental, but maybe not, to the setting of Indy 4) in the early 20th century. There is some amazingly similar legend and lore surrounding Bingham, just like a real-life Indiana Jones. Listen to the story and read more from NPR/WBUR's On Point with Tom Ashbrook.

7307 Takei

This one is for the Trekkies and the Heroes fans (does the latter get a fandom name?). Okay, for you astronomy fans too - startrek.com reports that George Takei now has an asteroid named after him.

"Last week the Committee on Small Body Nomenclature of the International Astronomical Union approved the name "7307 Takei" for the asteroid previously labeled "1994 GT9." The Takei reference will be used in the scientific community to identify this minor body from now on, presumably forever. Only about 14,000 asteroids have been named after specific people, out of about 400,000 such bodies known to exist."

Read the full article here

Kewl! Good job George.


In other Heroes and Trekkalicious news - by now if you're a fan of either, you know Zachary Quinto, aka Sylar from Heroes, is cast as Spock in the coming Star Trek XI movie. Other than that, STXI seems to be trudging along, supposedly for a Christmas 2008 release date. For more Star Trek XI updates, well, you can follow along at startrek.com for that too... along with a zillion other places on the web.

Luke's lightsaber is space bound!

Look for some footage and news in the next couple of days as the prop used as Luke's lightsaber (as opposed to the real one ;) in the original Star Wars makes it's journey from Skywalker Ranch to NASA 's Houston Space Center. As part of the 30th anniversary celebration, the original saber will be blasted off into outer space on the next flight of the space shuttle Discovery in October.

The journey begins August 28th (tomorrow!), and will include a full escort for the trip with Chewie, a troop of stormies, and more of our Star Wars friends who will usher the lightsaber over to the hands of NASA at a ceremony to be held at the Oakland International Airport.

KEWL!

Linkies:
Sci Fi Wire
TFN

Edit - Look for coverage by the official starwars.com blog, and on starwars.com tomorrow.

..and for the true space geek in you, check out NASA TV! Awesome live video from space.
__________________________________

Also... recent Battlestar Galactica news at FRAK

Star Wars miscellany and Site O' the Week.

I keep finding little tidbits lately, so I figured I should share..

- Arizona residents of the Tempe variety should be proud to host the state's largest movie theater, which will be kicking off it's grand opening with a fund-raiser featuring a special screening of Star Wars. A Cine Capri spokeswoman explains why Star Wars holds sentimental value for the company.


- This week's Star Wars Site O' the Week goes out to the UK periodical Empire Magazine's online locale for Star Wars: http://www.empireonline.com/starwars/

Empire has been covering Star Wars since the very beginning, and now with CE on it's way, they are getting particularly amped up with contests and 30th anniversary features. I have been drooling over the 30 Star Wars covers for awhile now. So if you're headed to London in the next couple of weeks, check out empireonline for all things Star Wars, even custom trooper helmets!


- Thought you were alone in relating everything in life to Star Wars? You've got more company than you think!


- The new sci-fi: A very interesting discussion about the state of sci-fi today from The Guardian Unlimited UK. Not Star Wars specific here, but it still gets mention (of course). New Battlestar Galactica heavy, however, with a dash of Heroes and Lost, a daub of Doctor Who, and a sprinkle of Firefly, Buffy, and X-Files. There's a slight Star Trek aftertaste.


- This last bit is a couple of months old now, but it still deserves mention me thinks, especially since the honor was made official last weekend:

The VES (Visual Effects Society) distinguished what they revere as the top 50 most influential visual effects films of all time, of which Star Wars made it to the very top (grats George and ILM!), and speaking of Blade Runner lately, well they got the second spot! Here's the top 10, and click here for the starwars.com article (and the full list):
1. Star Wars (1977, ILM)
2. Blade Runner (1982)
3. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)*
3. The Matrix (1999)*
5. Jurassic Park (1993, ILM)
6. Tron (1982)
7. King Kong (1933)
8. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
9. Alien (1979)
10. The Abyss (1989, ILM)


Just for the fun of it, and something visual, here's an original Star Wars trailer :D

Online Videos by Veoh.com