Is Star Wars Anti-Festivus? And, Kudos to Zooey Deschanel

Yoda Star Wars snowflake

Star Wars fans have an incredible ability to incorporate their favorite thing - Star Wars - in to any holiday. Christmas is no exception. Above you see a very intricate Yoda snowflake decoration. Can you imagine the time it took to figure out how to create this work of Yoda. You can make your own and dive into this fanciful holiday project by going to matersofgrey.com (other DIY Star Wars snowflakes include: Imperial Stormtroopers, Darth Vader, R2-D2, C3PO, Boba Fett, etc...). You can make these snowflakes while watching the Star Wars Christmas Special video seen below.


(Written by: Dom Moschitti, Nick Murphy, Paul Ritchey, and Luke Brown, Directed and 
Produced by: Nick Murphy and Paul Ritchey, Voice Over by: The Staff of Gamervision.com)

It's not just Star Wars fans who celebrate a Star Wars Christmas - they are greatly encouraged by our friends over at Lucasfilm and other creative merchandisers. There are innumerable Star Wars Christmas gifts like:
Christmas in the Stars: A Star Wars Christmas Album - $49.99 (Amazon)
Supreme Edition Star Wars Stroomtroopers costume - $889.00 (Amazon)
Lego Star Wars Advent Calendar - $39.95 (lego.com)
Star Wars Mimobot Thumb Drive - $24.99 (thinkgeek.com)
Star Wars Clone Wars Ultimate Blaster - $87.99 (Amazon)
This list could on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on - definitely anti-Festivus. Festivus is that imaginary holiday created in opposition to Christmas that seeks to rid the holiday from a commercial stranglehold.

By the way - Festivus is a secular holiday celebrated on December 23 as a way to celebrate the holiday season without participating in its commercialism and religious aspects. It was created by writer Dan O'Keefe and introduced into popular culture by his son Daniel, a screenwriter for the TV show Seinfeld, as part of a comical storyline on the show.

Zooey Deschanel from the television series, New Girl.

In a completely unrelated story we congratulate Zooey Deschanel (a These Amazing Shadows interview subject) on her recent Golden Globe nomination for best actress in a television series - comedy or musical. Her TV show, New Girl, is a breakout hit and has gathered a strong audience across all demographics. Not long ago she received a Grammy nomination in the category of "best song for a visual media" for her contribution to the Winnie the Pooh soundtrack, So Long. She is a great gal and a true movie fan (very knowledgeable) - it was such a pleasure to meet and interview her for our documentary.
Read more:
 http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/new-girls-zooey-deschanel-her-274245
 http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/showtracker/2011/12/golden-globes-zooey-deschanel-on-new-girl-nom-its-like-cake-and-ice-cream.html

Turkish "Star Wars," Turkish "Rocky" and Turkish "E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial"

Recently, Paul and I had lunch with Frazer Bradshaw, who was the director of photography for These Amazing Shadows. Frazer is always full of interesting film related stories. He told us about the incredible Turkish remake of Star Wars (see above). Here is the lowdown:

"The Turkish-made film commonly known as Turkish Star Wars is notorious for it's bootlegging of Star Wars clips. Released in 1982, Dünyayı Kurtaran Adam (AKA: Turkish Star Wars or The Man Who Saves the World) was created in Turkey during a period of massive political upheaval. American-made films were not easily acquired and were often remade with a Turkish cast and setting. The musical soundtrack is entirely lifted from Western film hits of the time, primarily using Raiders of the Lost Ark. There are also scenes incorporating the music of Moonraker, Flash Gordon, Battlestar Galactica, Planet of the Apes and Disney's The Black Hole."  You can download the entire film at the Internet Archive: http://www.archive.org/details/TheManWhoSavedTheWorldturkishStarWars1982     Want more? Here come Turkish Rocky (my favorite) and Turkish E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial!

The Art of the Title

The opening title card of a motion picture sets a tone and graphic style that in some cases can have a life of its own separate from the actual movie (think Star Wars). A excellent short primer on the history of title cards can be seen in, The Art of the Title, edited by Ian Albinson (see above). You'll see opening title cards from the silent film Intolerance to the modern day The Social Network.

While on the subject of movie title cards take a look at a website entitled imaginatively enough, Movie Title Stills Collection, a website by Christian Annyas. He is a very skilled graphic designer with a fascination with movie graphics. His personal webpage and Movie Title Stills Collection are really fun to navigate around. Especially if you admire (as Christian does) the work of Saul Bass (Vertigo, North by Northwest, The Man with the Golden Arm, West Side Story)
http://www.annyas.com/screenshots/
http://annyas.com/

One of my favorite title cards is from the 1931 Friz Lang directed film, M. What is your's?