The Maker Married Mellody!

Last weekend, at Skywalker Ranch, Mr. George Lucas married his sweetheart, Ms. Mellody Hobson. If you've ever seen the two in person or, perhaps, being interviewed by Oprah, its no surprise that the two finally tied the knot. Congratuations to the Lucas-Hobson families!





This weekend the two are having an enormous reception in Hobson's hometown of Chicago.
Stars Celebrate George Lucas' Wedding at Chicago Soiree (Video)

ILM: Creating the Impossible

If you've not seen the 2010 documentary, Industrial Light & Magic: Creating the Impossible, it's definitely worth your time. Packed into one short hour, the film does a good job showing the birth of the special effects giant and the achievements the company has made in the last 35+ years. 

If you absolutely can't spare the time, at least check out the 52-minute mark. JJ Abrams speaks to the challenges of keeping up with Star Wars and a few tricks used in the making of his first Star Trek outing.

Rare 1980 TESB Hotline Recordings

This is an excellent blast from the past. In the era when long distance phone calls could run you a dollar per minute (better call at night or on a weekend!) the sequel to Star Wars had a unique hotline where callers could here a tease from The Empire Strikes Back. By calling 1-800-521-1980* you'd hear exclusive messages from Anthony Daniels, Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, and James Earl Jones.

*I'll save you the trouble. The number goes to athe voicemail of an unrelated person now.

John Dykstra's Birthday

Today is the birthday of John Dykstra (b. 1947) who led the original Industrial Light & Magic team for Star Wars (1977). Many of the shots that astounded audiences, and led to the film winning an Oscar of best Visual Effects, were created with his Dykstraflex camera. The computer-controlled camera was developed to move around a spaceship model or object so that in playback it looked like the ship was doing the moving. Multiple layers could be composited to create the movie's distinctive look of moving spaceships and other objects.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Dykstra