November 2017 – Living History in the Star Wars Galaxy

Snagging a Speeder Bike (with Math!)

In Guerilla Warfare, that wonderful time capsule of 1940s partisanship, Burt ‘Yank’ Levy describes an excellent way of ambushing a rapidly-moving, mounted fascist:

“A good way to stop a motor-cyclist is by stretching a quarter-inch cable or wire across a roadway. If you are sure a motor-cyclist is coming, put it up beforehand. Otherwise, have a brick tied to one end of it and be ready to sling it across the road, where others will secure it, while the Nazi is a mile away. Attach the wire to trees or fence-posts at a height of from three to three and a half feet from the ground…preferably, string your line diagonally across the road, at an angle of about 30 degrees. The effect of this will be to make the motor-cyclist, when he hits it, slide along it and into the ditch…right near where you and your companions are waiting” (72).

Reading this the other night, I started to wonder: if I was a member of a Rebel cell needing to ambush a pursuing scout trooper, how much time would I have in which to throw my cable across the path before he appeared?

Ewoks apparently prefer the first, pre-set system, as above.

Continue reading “Snagging a Speeder Bike (with Math!)”

Recipe: Yoda Stew

(as made BY Yoda, not WITH Yoda!)

This has been shared all over in the last 34 years, but I thought it would be fun to include here as there are so few edible connections to make with the GFFA.
While I wish this was the actual recipe that was served on-set in Yoda’s house (any leads would be amazing!), we’ll have to make do. The recipe originates with the 1983 adaptation of The Empire Strikes Back made by National Public Radio, who solicited gourmet chef Craig Claiborne to come up with something to approximate Yoda’s ‘rootleaf’ stew of the film.

The finished product might look like something made out of swamp-sourced ingredients, but it tastes very much like a modern Indian dish!
Continue reading “Recipe: Yoda Stew”

Artifact ID: Nubian saltshakers

We’re talking about these thingies:

HP-9282
These items have always stuck out to me as a prime example of the prop shop guys grabbing whatever was on the shelves at the time and using them as background details (Episode I is full of this). I think it’s kind of cool, from my 18-years removed perspective, how the clean lines of late ‘90s tech were easily appropriated for Naboo-ian tech.
Continue reading “Artifact ID: Nubian saltshakers”

Rebel propaganda project: ‘Liberty for All’

Back about the time last year when I started entertaining the idea of starting a dedicated Rebel persona, I was also thinking about potential outlets and activities I could do. The one that I kept coming back to— inspired by a childhood spent surrounded by living history types at Civil War battlefields—was a public ‘recruitment drive’ for the Rebel Alliance. In brainstorming such an event, I thought that having some propaganda to display would be a good way to add atmosphere.
liberty_fin And so, I started looking to see what was out there. Unsurprisingly, there is a metric ton of Star Wars-themed propaganda on the internet, but not much of it is ‘official’. I wanted something I could talk about in-universe if questioned, and I sure didn’t want to have to tell people that the artwork came from DeviantArt user ‘L314_Forever’ or something.

Luckily, I came across reference to a book recently published, containing a multitude of in-universe artwork: Star Wars Propaganda: A History of Persuasive Art in the Galaxy. While some of the pieces seemed a little lackluster or Photoshop-y, I really liked this one (by ‘Tavris Bahzel’): Continue reading “Rebel propaganda project: ‘Liberty for All’”