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Star Wars Fun Fact
Surprising and little known Star Wars tidbits, usually related to today’s Force Feature.Happy birthday to Ahmed Best! The man behind the character you love or love to hate, Jar Binks, turns 41 today. And whatever you think about him, you gotta give the guy credit – he was all in on the role, and he handled the criticism of the character with grace and humor. A class act all around!
Also, it’s 487 days until the release of Episode VII. Hang on back there…
Life on “Tweet”-ooine
A featured dispatch from the Star Wars Twitterverse!Is Disney Really Releasing The Unaltered Star Wars Trilogy on Blu Ray? http://t.co/cPP6AOrFfz
— io9 (@io9) August 16, 2014
Star Wars Swag Bag
So many fun, quirky, and awesome ways to bring Star Wars into your daily life!Inflatable remote control R2-D2 – click the pic for more info!
Trivia Time!
Test your knowledge of the Star Wars universe!Yesterday’s answer: A gundark
Today’s question: How many rank insignia circles graced General Rieekan’s uniform?
Force Feature: Sharing Star Wars With Your Kids
Exploring the many worlds of Star Wars, in the imagination and in real life!I could not wait to share Star Wars with my kids. And yes, there are tons of ways to share Star Wars with your kids, whether it’s by toys or picture books or t-shirts or swag or libraries or comic conventions or theme park rides or whatever. I’m not talking about that today, though. I’m talking about the movies themselves.
My firstborn son was two and a half when I first watched Star Wars with him. And for him, that was too young. When Vader picks up Captain Antilles by the throat in the very beginning of the movie, my son put his own hand around his neck and looked wicked scared. Less than proud daddy moment.
Thankfully, it didn’t scar him for life, and he digs the movies now. In fact, he prides himself on correctly answering the trivia questions I share in the podcast. But I had to wait a couple of years before I tried showing him again, or anything else.
I will say that one of my fondest memories of raising him was that, at bedtime, he would ask me to tell him the stories as he fell asleep. This was after the bedtime reading was done, and the lights were out, and I’m kneeling on the floor next to his low bed with my head on the pillow next to his, and he’s asking me to tell him the Star Wars stories again. And I’m summarizing each movie down into five minute blocks, if I wasn’t also dozing off, too.
One time we were at a party at a friend’s house, and he was four coming up on five, so this would have been 2007. I hadn’t let him see Revenge of the Sith yet, because I’d learned my lesson previously, and was sure it would be too intense for him. But he’d been running and tripped over something and scraped his knee up pretty badly, blood and all, and he wouldn’t stop crying even when he had been cleaned up and the worst was over.
So I sat with him on the front step of the house we were at, and I asked him if he wanted me to tell him the story of Revenge of the Sith. And I hadn’t shared that one at bedtime, and I’d told him previously he couldn’t watch it yet because it would be too much for him.
But that moment, of me offering to tell him the story, got through to him. He started to catch his breath a bit, and the tears started to slow down, and he said “Yes,” because of course he wanted to hear it, who wouldn’t?
I didn’t give him a five-minute version. It was at least a half hour and probably more. And he settled in, and listened, and asked questions, and he stopped noticing the pain in his knee, too.
What happened, really, was that he left himself for a time, and got lost in the story. And when he came back to himself, things were not so bad as they’d seemed just an hour ago.
That, to me, is why Star Wars is such a powerful, wonderful, amazing creation. Anything that can transport you like that is a joy to behold and experience. George Lucas did me a solid that day, and I will always be grateful to him for those moments together with my son.
How about you? Do you have a favorite story to share about sharing Star Wars with your kids? Have your say in the comments!