As part of the research that yielded my Service Corps insignia patch, I came upon a detail that has led me to a dilemma.
In Part 2 of Daniel Wallace’s The Jedi Path, the various paths that a Jedi initiate may take are outlined: whether to go on to become a Padawan apprentice, to ‘wash out’ and join the Service Corps, or to leave the Order entirely and rejoin the ‘civilian’ galactic community.
In addition to the text, this is illustrated visually:
From this depiction, it appears that the Service Corps (center bottom) is differentiated by use of less layers of clothing (forgoing the tabards in favor of a tunic—with contrasting collar!—only)? My question is: How representative or stylized is this image?.…The token AgriCorps guy with the Mohawk also looks to be going with a simple tunic-only outfit.
The Jedi Path, as an in-universe textbook, is supposedly dated to 115 BBY… BUT, the comic series Act on Instinct—set during the Clone Wars—depicts a young AgriCorps member, Sanya, who does appear to wear tabards:
In fact, her outfit looks like a regular Prequel Jedi, just in navy blue, and with wrapped forearms. Additionally, this character would be about the same age as Silo, and so might be seen as the closest analogue to my persona?
However… Continue reading “Downsides to Research: Accuracy vs Recognition”
Author: A.H.
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?
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:
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.
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’”
Building the Outer Persona: an authentic Gaderffii
Back in the beginning of the year, when I was only doing an AgriCorps Jedi impression, I started thinking about what it might look like to do a living history ‘display’ in the GFFA. For actual historic periods, displays at events often take the form of a collection of soldier’s gear laid out for the public:
In my mind’s eye, I thought it might be interesting, starting out, to simply have a collection of in-universe ‘artifacts’ for the public to examine, which could function as potential ‘engagement hooks’ for interpretation. Continue reading “Building the Outer Persona: an authentic Gaderffii”
Building the Jedi Persona: 4.1 – Canteens
As promised earlier, I’ll begin with a quick writeup on the mysterious canteen which DK has put to triple use as a GFFA prop-base.
Dimensions: approximately 6 x 8 x 2 inches.
Capacity: approximately 1250 milliliters, which is about 250 more than most of my other canteens (my WW2 Russians, US, and UK are all just a hair over or under a liter), which is pretty nice. However, getting this maximum capacity involves getting any air out of the top section next to the spout. I wonder if–based on the similar shape of my vintage icepack–this canteen was meant for cold weather use?, as the top section might allow for extra expansion during freezing?
My canteens are both clearly marked ‘US’ in a recessed area (on the other side of the props), and ‘1 US 1993 H.T.P.’ on the bottom. Continue reading “Building the Jedi Persona: 4.1 – Canteens”
Artifact ID: a humble Power Cell
This isn’t a proper ‘artifact ID’ post, in that I’m not identifying a real-world object that was used to create an on-screen artifact; this one is more concerned with identifying a briefly-glimpsed on-screen artifact using secondary resources. (Although I’m totally open to suggestions from someone more knowledgeable. The knob on top looks like it’s from a potentiometer I used to have, except cast in clear plastic.)
About the time I was reading about supposed Rebels wielding gaffi sticks, I came upon a now-obsolete gallery of GFFA gear, supplied by Wizards of the Coast for one of their RPGs. One of the items, here labeled as ‘Energy cell’, caught my eye…there was something familiar about it.
Unlike other tertiary sources in RPG materials, the photo is clearly copyrighted LFL (LucasFilm Limited), as are a number of images that date to this same period (such as that of the credit chip), so I was pretty confident this wasn’t something that was whipped up by DK to pad out a Visual Dictionary…this had to be an actual prop from a film.
That’s when I remembered! Ah-ha! I’d seen just such an item many times before, while playing the Episode I Podracer game for countless hours! Continue reading “Artifact ID: a humble Power Cell”
Artifact ID: a ‘triple threat’
Visual Dictionary Disclaimer: it’s unknown what percentage of props in these books actually appeared on-screen, or were made from scratch to pad out the book. It’s entirely possible that someone with eagle eyes and a Blu-Ray might spot these items slung over the shoulder of some anonymous background extra on Coruscant, and I would normally say to take them with a grain of salt. However, I am inclined to view them as legitimate sources purely for their supreme usefulness in helping flesh out the in-universe material culture of the GFFA.
With that out of the way…
While leafing through my copy of DK’s Episode II Visual Dictionary, I noticed something vaguely similar about a few of the props.
Can you see it? All three feature an encircling strap, and two of the three have the exact same shape. Hypothesis: these props are built on the same base item! Continue reading “Artifact ID: a ‘triple threat’”
Artifact ID: Sidi Gourd
One of the things that made the Mos Espa scenes in Episodes I and II feel so real (aside from, y’know, shooting on location with real sets and minimal ‘digital backlot’) was its use of background detail—things like market stalls selling produce. These are really only featured in secondary materials, but they’re still fascinating. I always thought it would be very cool—if I lived somewhere with an appropriate environment and had an appropriate venue—to do an interpretive display of Tatooine foodstuffs. Something like this:
Continue reading “Artifact ID: Sidi Gourd”
Living History in the Star Wars Galaxy 
