Wookie or Wookiee?

This is one of those questions that have risen up many times in several galaxies. How should I spell it: Wookie or Wookiee? Mmmm... May this be cleared once and for all.

WOOKIEE

That´s how it is. Some might say: "but I´ve seen Wookie writen and published before". No doubt you have. But it was wrong! Some guy thought he could change the original word. Well, bad luck for him. You may search the wookieepedia if you have any doubts or the Star Wars official databank and see for yourself. And don´t write ever again Wookie, with just one e. Please. And thank you. You don´t wanna see a pissed off Wookiee. Believe me...

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Esta é daquelas questões que provavelmente já surgiram várias vezes em inúmeras galáxias. Como escrever: Wookie ou Wookiee? Mmmm... Que se esclareça de uma vez por todas.

WOOKIEE

Esta é a forma correcta. Alguns poderão dizer: "mas eu já vi Wookie escrito anteriormente". Sem dúvida que sim. Mas estava mal escrito! Houve algum espertalhão que pensou que podia alterar a palavra original. Bem, azar do pirete! Em caso de dúvida podem sempre consultar a wookieepedia ou a base de dados oficial Star Wars para comprovarem por iniciativa própria. E não voltem a escrever Wookie só com um e. Por favor. Muito obrigado. É que não vão querer cruzar-se com um Wookiee chateado. Acreditem...

Mauro Bex : maurobindo

"Star Wars: The Force Unleashed" - Concept Art

No words needed... just a wish... hope they publish a book with these, after the game is available.

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Sem palavras... só um desejo... o de que publiquem um livro com toda esta arte, assim que o jogo estiver disponível para venda.

More info, pics and videos here.

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Mais informação, fotos e videos aqui.


Mauro Bex : maurobindo

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

Can I just say that I´m already drooling?!
Check the official site here or in the sidebar link. As you wish, my aprentice.

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Posso só dizer que já me estou a babar?!
Espreitem o site oficial aqui ou no link da barra lateral. Como desejardes, aprendiz.


Mauro Bex : maurobindo

Star Wars Chubbies

I say it´s Russian inspiration, because they seem to be authentic matrioshkas. Anyway, you should read the product detail from the artists of Gentle Giant. The whole collection is just amazing. It´s already in my wish list.

Imported from Hot Toys in Hong Kong, Star Wars Chubby: Series 1 includes: Darth Vader (Anakin Skywalker), Obi-Wan Kenobi, Sith, C-3PO, General Grievous and Wookiees. These Star Wars nesting dolls, houses two more figures within, each standing 1.5 inches tall to 3 inches tall. Each set of figures also comes in a 30th anniversary window box showcasing all three figures.

Before ending this "exhibition" I would like to present you the special edition, only available at San Diego Comic Con, the "Jumbo Darth Vader Chubby".

Imported from Hot Toys in Hong Kong, Star Wars Darth Vader Jumbo Chubby Stands 9.5 inches tall. The debut edition, the first 1000 pieces, will be available to purchase at San Diego Comic-Con 2007.

Check the Gentle Giant link in the sidebar for more info.


Mauro Bex : maurobindo

Forced Alliance

Here´s a fan film that caught my attention. The resources must have been scarce, but the directors have done a pretty good job. Hope you like it, if you haven´t seen it already. If it does not work, you can always watch it clicking here.

Previously posted in "Já Cheiro o Samádhi".

Directors: Randolph Bookman, Gerry Santos United States
Not many fan films can boast this level of production excellence. A stunning work of fan fiction, Forced Alliance imagines Sith ranks rising from the ashes.

Mauro Bex : maurobindo

This is why Star Wars is so amazing

"After Star Wars was released, it became apparent that my story — however many films it took to tell — was only one of thousands that could be told about the characters who inhabit its galaxy. But these were not stories that I was destined to tell. Instead they would spring from the imagination of other writers, inspired by the glimpse of a galaxy that Star Wars provided. Today it is an amazing, if unexpected, legacy of Star Wars that so many gifted writers are contributing new stories to the Saga."

―George Lucas, from the introduction of Splinter of the Mind's Eye, 1996[src]


Mauro Bex : maurobindo

Map of the Star Wars Galaxy

Thanks to my friend mawalien for the link: SuperShadow.com

"This fantastic galaxy map was actually originally done by Cartographer of the former www.nav-computer.com and is one of the great pieces of fan work that has been created." - Thanks to Keith Kappel for giving me the correct origin of this map.

Mauro Bex : maurobindo

The "Star Wars" Worlds: More Science Than Fiction?

Full interview here, by National Geographic. Please feel free to read it all. You will like it for sure. The second part gets even better.

By Stefan Lovgren

Everyone knows the Star Wars galaxy is located "far, far away." But how realistic are the alien worlds (see pictures) described in the science fiction saga?

To find out, National Geographic News checked in with two experts on everything extraterrestrial: Bruce Betts, a planetary scientist at the Planetary Society in Pasadena, California, and Seth Shostak, a senior astronomer at the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Institute in Mountain View, California.

National Geographic News: So how believable is the Star Wars galaxy?

Betts: They [the filmmakers] have set up a fictional structure that is so far outside our reality that they can get away with an awful lot. What they have in their favor is that they use an entire galaxy.

A galaxy has, say, a hundred billion stars and maybe that many planets. If they've picked out the worlds where life has evolved or where life can exist, it's hard to argue there couldn't be 20 [such planets] in a galaxy of a hundred billion planets.

Shostak: What we might complain about is that so many of the galactic sentients [intelligent life-forms] seem determined to live on planets. Truly advanced life is likely to build its own habitats, and escape the limited area and resources of a planet. In Star Wars, it seems that only Monsieur Vader has figured this out, building his own artificial habitat, appealingly monikered the Death Star, even though it's not a star at all. But "Death Space Habitat" doesn't have as nice a ring to it.

NG News: Should we assume the major characters are human?

Betts: The literature, I think, refers to them as humans sometime. Although we're in a galaxy far, far away, I still make the assumption that these people breathe oxygen. That makes things a little tricky.

No matter what atmosphere they drop into, they're able to breathe. It seems odd that the Wookiee planet, for example, would have the right amount of oxygen for people who grew up on Tatooine, when we know that even going to a higher altitude on Earth becomes a problem in terms of oxygen. But now I'm just nitpicking.

NG News: By all means, nit-pick.

Shostak: Maintaining a cohesive empire, or even a republic, over a decent swath of any galaxy would be impossible without faster-than-light travel, of course. You need FTL travel, which Star Wars has, to even contemplate such far-flung organizations.

Even so, it all seems unlikely, because the various inhabitants, many of which are biological, will have evolved at different times. Consequently, the top species will be many millennia ahead of the number two species, in terms of evolution, and millions and billions of years ahead of your average intelligent species. They won't want to share drinks with them in a Mos Eisley cantina.

(...)

Mauro Bex : maurobindo

The Side Job

Taken from my other multilingual blog, "Já Cheiro o Samádhi". Original from "Rhymes with Orange". I wonder what would be Chewbacca´s side job...

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Retirado do meu outro blogue, "Já Cheiro o Samádhi". O original vem do excelente "Rhymes with Orange". Pergunto-me qual será o part-time do Chewbacca...

Mauro Bex : maurobindo

Darth "Beggar" Vader

Well, here´s something that I don´t agree that much. When I really want something, like Star Wars stuff or anything that I might like a lot, I would definitely buy it, because I like to collect. Otherwise, due to high prices, and in Portugal they use to be way up, up my friends, there´s no other way than to download them a cost 00.00€! Sorry to disappoint you lads, but until the usual "suspects" benefit less from publishing, editing or whatever, I´ll continue to act as a "pirate". Normally the real artists, actors, writers, you name it, don´t get what they deserve (except "Hollywoodians") and those who vampirize them get always the big slice of the cake. Until the picture remains this way, I´m gonna stay out of the real stuff. Except for Star Wars of course...

You can also comment your oppinion about this issue here.

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Ele há coisas com as quais não posso concordar inteiramente e esta é uma delas. Quando quero comprar seja o que for, como algo relacionado com Star Wars ou qualquer coisa de que goste mesmo, sem dúvida que compro, pois gosto de coleccionar. Caso contrário, devido aos elevados preços praticados, e em Portugal meus amigos eles são upa, upa puxadote, não há alternativa ao download a custo 00.00€! Desculpem lá qualquer coisinha, mas até que os "suspeitos" dos costume beneficiem menos por publicarem, editarem ou o raio que os parta, continuarei a agir como "pirata". O problema é que os artistas, actores, escritores, etc., não recebem o que merecem (excepto os "Hollywoodianos") sobrando sempre a maior fatia do bolo para aqueles que os vampirizam. Enquanto as coisas não mudarem, não posso contribuir para a redução deste dito flagelo. Excepto para Star Wars, está claro...

Também se pode opinar sobre este assunto aqui.

Mauro Bex : maurobindo

The Happy Bantha

Can anyone imagine how would be a turd of this fella? Erm... ok, forget it... I just loved this guy! It´s in my favourite pics list. More wonderfull things @ flickr.

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Alguém consegue imaginar como será uma poia deste amigo? Hmmm... ok, esqueçam... É que adorei este malandro e já foi parar à minha lista de fotos preferidas. Mais algumas montagens maravilhosas no flickr.

Mauro Bex : maurobindo

1/2 Scale Remote Controlled R2D2

Star Wars and gadget geeks, you may want to sit down before reading this post. This 1/2 scale remote controlled R2D2 has a projector stashed in his dome, capable of an 80-inch picture. And said controller is shaped like the Millenium Falcon. By the falcon's command, the sassy little droid can be driven forward and back and right down the trash compactor. The remote'll also spin his cute little dome piece around, trigger 11 R2 sounds from the movies. And there's a built in DVD player with stereo speakers, an iPod dock connector, USB and memory card slots, as well as AV inputs. The droid also has safety sensors to make sure you don't drive it down a trash compactor chute, or try to project it at a wall that's too close.

Check more details here.

Mauro Bex : maurobindo

Learn, you can.

Want to learn how to speak Yodish? I´ve arranged it for you. Just go here.

And if the matter has a special meaning for you, read this analysis. It is tooooooooooo long, but you get the chance of becoming a Yodish specialist.

But be careful. As Master Qui-Gon Jinn said: "The ability to speak does not make you intelligent."

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Algum interesse em falar Yodish? Penso que encontrei o local correcto. Basta clicar aqui.

E se, por ventura, o assunto tem uma espécie de significado especial para alguém, este estudo vale a pena ser lido. É muuuuuuuuuuuuuuito extenso, mas vale a pena, pois nele reside um certo grau de risco, o de nos tornarmos especialistas em Yodish.

Mas cautela. Como o Mestre Qui-Gon Jinn disse: "A capacidade de comunicar não te torna inteligente."

Mauro Bex : maurobindo

Star Wars and Sanskrit

The ways of the Force are truly surprising. If not, something like this would never be a probability or a possibility. Hence, not unusual for those who dedicate themselves to the profound study of such ancient power. What am I talking about? The Force and Sanskrit likewise. And these two very distinctive aspects have many things in common, I must add. Let´s elucidate some fans.

Shaak Ti. Sounds familiar? If not, click the name. If yes was your answer, then simply proceed, because I´m about to make a revelation. Uhhh yeah, I will!

Focusing in an ancient language outside the Star Wars Universe, Sanskrit (spoken and wrtitten language of ancient India that has influenced most of European languages, the known Indo-European dialects, and also Central Asia, Iranian Plateau and Indian subcontinent languages), we get to acknowledge many of the terms and names that George "almighty" Lucas got inspiration from.

Without making great dissertations for the subject in analysis, I just want to say that the inspiration for the character Shaak Ti (at least for her name), comes from the Sanskrit term "Shaktí", that stands for: woman turned into goddess, or viewed and admired as divinity. "Shaktí" is not easy to put in words, because it stands for something much nobler and greater than any average human can ever experience in his lifetime. It stands for power, strength, energy, and the very idea of "Shaktí" can only be reached and felt by some special women. As the Force works through some, it works likely the same way for those who are real "Shaktís".

If you wish to learn more, I suggest you study some Sanskrit, the Indian culture (Hindu mainly) and its ancient history. That's just the way it is.

I think G. Lucas knew well what he was doing. That´s why I´m right here, right now, writing this lousy text.


Mauro Bex : maurobindo

Jedi or Sith?

Which one are you? A follower of the Dark paths, or instead, a humble server of the Force? Join me, my young apprentice, in this journey throughout the galaxy...

... in a galaxy not so very far, far away...

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Qual dos dois se encaixa melhor? O de seguidor do lado negro, ou o de humilde servidor da Força? Junta-te a mim, meu jovem aprendiz, nesta jornada pela galáxia...

... numa galáxia não tão longe quanto isso...

Mauro Bex : maurobindo

Prepare to enter hyperspace

- Chewie, prepare to enter hyperspace.
- Hrrrrnnngh.
- What?! You didn´t fixed the hyperdrive?
- Hrnnarghargharah!!
- Ahhhh, trying to be funny, hein?!
- Gnnnrnnr.
- Fuzz ball...
- Har, har, har!!!

Sssssssssssssssshhhhhhhhhhuinnnnnnnnnnnnn... ... ... Bvvvvvoooooooommmmmmm...

Mauro Bex : maurobindo