lazypadawan's Holocron

What better way to celebrate KOTCS than to chow down on some Indy cupcakes:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/katipeck/2507602238/

Wish I could find those at Sprinkles!

It's Indy-A-Go-Go on television for you couch potatoes this weekend!

FoxNews's Hannity's America, which airs 6 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, will feature a report on the real crystal skulls (yes, there really is such a thing). I could've sworn I saw an ad on Travel for another special about the real-life crystal skulls that's supposed to air 9 p.m. on Sunday but I'm unable to find it on Travel's website.

Then there is History's new special Indiana Jones and the Ultimate Quest airing Sunday night at 8 p.m. (check History.com for the schedule in your time zone).

Biography is running specials on Steven Spielberg, Harrison Ford, and Shia LeBeouf??? How long is Shia's show going to last, fifteen minutes? Let's see, Disturbia, Transformers, Indy, Walgreens, the end :P.

There's more here listed:

http://www.theforce.net/latestnews/story/Indiana_Jones_Related_Docs_On_TV_114671.asp

ndiana Jones and the Last Crusade was probably the only film of the series (to date) I actually got to see the weekend it came out. It was sometime during Memorial Day weekend 1989, a couple of weeks after I came home to Miami from college. The sad part is I don't really remember the name of the theater, only that it was a nice new multiplex out in the Kendall area. I think I ended up seeing The Abyss and Batman there too. The reason it has since flushed out of my memory probably has to do with the fact that my family moved away from Miami a year later, unlike theaters like Sunniland, The Falls, and Dadeland Twin that were around for years before their respective wrecking balls.

Anyway, my brother told me several years later that on opening day, he and his high school buddies in a fit of senioritis decided to play hooky and see the first showing. To this day, my parents don't know he did this (shhh). So even though he had already seen the movie, my brother put on a game act and went with us to see it.

I remember in the lobby they were actually selling t-shirts. At the time my collection of t-shirts consisted mostly of dark-haired, pale people in fishnets or bats or skulls or something, and the cartoony style of these shirts just didn't fit into my wardrobe. And I wasn't really a fangirl at that point. My mom bought herself one though.

The movie was of course, awesome. Last Crusade really benefitted from having high-wattage stars like Sean Connery--who really should've had an Oscar nom--and River Phoenix (sigh, RIP) aboard. And like the other times, I was the only one in the theater laughing while everybody else was freaking out over the rats. I use "he chose…poorly" all of the time.

After that, I never really thought we'd see another Indy flick. I watched the underrated "Young Indiana Jones Chronicles" and then the SW machinery fired back up again. There had been talk of another Indiana Jones, but as recently as three years ago, I doubted it would happen.

So, here we are, with less than a week to go.

Well, folks, it's seven days to go if you count midnight screenings! Based on early tracking, FantasyMoguls.com is already predicting a five-day total of $162 million-$172 million:

http://news.fantasymoguls.com/originalcontent/2008/05/early-trackin-1.html

Believe it or not, I don't have tickets yet. I need to get a move on!

I've posted about my past trips to the theater to see SW, so I thought, "Why not post about my Indiana Jones 'adventures?'" If Eps IV-VI remind me of my childhood, then Indiana Jones reminds me of my teen years. I was 11 when I first saw Raiders of the Lost Ark and 19 when Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade came out. It was Indy who led me to become a huge Duran Duran fan back in the day. How? When I was 12 or 13 and watching MTV at somebody's house (MTV was banned from lazypadawan's home), I saw the video for "Hungry Like The Wolf," which was clearly inspired by Raiders of the Lost Ark. Right then I thought, "These guys are cool." This was quickly followed by the realization that John Taylor was hot. But I digress...

It all began in July or August 1981. Raiders had already been out for a couple of months but I hadn't seen it yet. Here's the crazy part...I really didn't care to see it! Was the Miami heat and humidity baking my brain or something? Maybe so, but I'm not 100% sure why. The best explanation I can come up with is maybe I didn't think I could believe "Han Solo" in any other role (you're welcome, Harrison, heh heh). My dad had been anxious to see it since it first came out and finally one weekend, he made us all go the closest theater showing it, groaning and grumbling the whole way.

The theater was the decrepit Sunniland Twin in what's now Pinecrest, FL. This place, host to blockbusters and midnight movies alike, was a DUMP. The floors were fly-paper sticky and the curtains on the walls were old and musty. I'm surprised I never saw a family of cockroaches sitting in the seats munching on popcorn. In fact, while we were waiting for Raiders to start, a man came in with his two kids, a boy and a girl. They sat a few rows ahead of us and when the dad tried to sit down, the bottom part of the seat fell out and the dad went right to the floor. Everybody laughed, including his kids. Poor guy. The amazing thing is Sunniland Twin remained open for five more years afterwards. It's where I saw E.T., Romancing The Stone, and The Fly among other flicks. However, it was gone by 1987, replaced by a Luria's, and I think that entire wing of the strip mall bought it during Hurricane Andrew in 1992.

The movie began and of course, I loved every minute of it. The Indiana Jones movies always have at least one gross-out scene that makes people squirm and stuff. The money scene was of course the part where they opened the ark and the angels or whatever they were made all of the Nazis melt. Everybody else in the theater was screaming, covering their eyes, and saying stuff like, "Ewww." But not me. I just laughed and laughed. I thought it was hilarious.

Raiders instantly became one of my all-time favorites and it remains my brother's favorite movie ever. Raiders got re-released in 1982 and my brother and I managed to beg off a ride and a couple of bucks to see it again at the multiplex. After that, I relied on home video, cable t.v., and classic movie nights while I was in college to relive the fun. Even though I've had the DVD for a while, I watched it again in glorious HD on USA HD network. Awesomeness.

Well, I forgot to mention Harrison Ford's appearance on Jay Leno last night. Nothing from the movie was shown--Leno cracked that it was in the witness protection program--but Ford loves it and thinks it's as good if not a little bit better than the previous Indy adventures. Oh and they showed Ford's wacko save-the-forest-by-waxing-my-chest-hairs PSA. I now realize it was really an excuse for him to expose more craggle ;).

Shia LeBeouf hosts SNL tonight and he will also introduce LEGO's new flick, Indiana Jones And The Raiders of the Lost Brick, airing tonight on Cartoon Network 9 p.m.. That's likely to be 9 p.m. EST, meaning 8 p.m. Central, 7 p.m. Mountain, and 6 p.m. Pacific. I saw part of it online and it's really cute, a la Revenge of the Brick. There is at least one SW reference.

The History Channel will also air an Indiana Jones special on May 18.

http://www.indianajones.com/site/index.html

I suppose I could go ahead and say what I really think...this trailer makes me feel like it's 1984 all over again! Just hand me the Wayfarers and the Walkman so I can rock out to Billy Idol ;). It's got all of the classic Indy elements: stunt sequences, angry natives (thank goodness it's not gone PC on that account), ancient temples, strange mystical objects, and baddies who will stop at nothing to get said mystical objects, all served up with the trademark humor. Bonus points for Marion! All the movie needs to do to work is entertain the bejeebus out of us.

Harrison Ford, in an interview with McPaper a couple of days ago, had this to say about the character who ended his full-time career as a carpenter:

"He gives "no credit to the culture for embracing (Han) as a hero. He's dumb as a stump! He's certainly got a good heart, but I think he's certainly a much less interesting character than Indiana Jones.

"The breadth of his story utility was never extensive. He was the foil between the other more compelling elements of the film. There's not breadth of character to explore beyond what we got out of him."'

For us long-time SW fans, this is nothing new. Ford has expounded on the shallowness of Han Solo for at least 25 years if not longer. I just don't know why he thinks Indy is somehow more complex than Han, except for perhaps the fact that Indy is the main character while Han is not. I realize Han isn't packing a lot of PhDs and he's one of those guys who acts first and thinks about it later, but I don't think he's dumb as a stump either. Moreover, people like him for the following reasons:

1. He holds his own even with characters who have powers and abilities he doesn't have.

2. He has his own ship.

3. His best bud is Chewbacca, and everybody loves Chewbacca.

4. He's not entirely good, but not evil or a heartless son of a bantha like Boba Fett.

5. He is snarky.

Bonus like: Women think he is hot.

I know Josh Holloway (Sawyer on Lost) has said that his character is inspired in part by Han, but while watching ANH, ROTJ, and part of TESB last weekend, it's really obvious that it is the case. I sort of expected Han to call Leia "Freckles." Although she isn't as freckle-y as Kate.

In any case, TFN linked to a thing on that bastion of excellence in journalism, contactmusic.com about Lucas's hopes and dreams for Indy IV:

We're not gonna have adoring fans sending us e-mails saying how much they loved the movie. We're gonna have a bunch of angry people saying, 'You're a bunch of a**holes, you should never have done this. You've ruined my life forever.'"

Don't forget about raped childhoods! From my standpoint, of course there are people who are going to complain no matter what, but I don't foresee a backlash a la post-TPM. There isn't the same crazy buildup to the movie nor is there as many people who have pinned their whole lives on Indy. The worst it'll get is whining over Ford's age or the way Shia LeBeouf's hair is parted.

But it does show how much the overdone hatefest on the part of a vocal minority really got to Papa George. Geez, if it bothered me, I can't imagine how it felt to the guy who created the whole thing, even with the money it made.

Indy stuff has been hitting the stores too. The LEGOs came out a while ago, now I'm finding Dr. Pepper with Indy boxes. Good thing I'm not much of an Indy collector!

It may be the end of March but I guess it ain't too soon to start t.v. promos for KOTCS...go check it out on http://www.indianajones.com if you haven't seen it on the telly yet.

Sorry, it's not a bigger picture, but here it is, another beauty by Drew Struzan. And of course you can buy it now at ShopStarWars.com:

http://shop.starwars.com/catalog/product.xml?product_id=417806

Can't believe it's just over two months away. Whew!

My friend Derek tipped me off to a bizarre controversy surrounding the KOTCS teaser trailer. Here's where you can see the international version of the trailer:

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/film/article802170.ece?CMP=KNC-powersearchSEM1&HBX_PK=

( Notice a couple of things are different besides the ambiguous May release date? )