Pentatonix Performs 'Star Wars' Score at AMAs

Last night, at the American Music Awards, a capella group Pentatonix performed the score from Disney's upcoming Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

And despite being an a capella group, Pentatonix's performance included an orchestra.

An interesting combination.

Image via Entertainment Weekly.

Take a listen below and decide what you think about the irony.

Arlington natives Pentatonix took the #AMAs stage Sunday night with a live orchestra for a special rendition of the "Star Wars" theme. Oh, and they were introduced by Han Solo himself, Harrison Ford!
Posted by WFAA-TV on Sunday, November 22, 2015

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‘Star Wars VII’ Character Names Revealed!

Disney has released the names of the new characters introduced in the Star Wars: The Force Awakens teaser trailer.

And they did this in a really cool way: through digital trading cards with a retro spin.

All trading card images from Star Wars website.

Star Wars geeks: is she related to Leia and Han?

I’m in love with BB-8, but he/she/it (?) could never replace R2-D2 for me. That droid has won my heart.

Image from kickingcones.tumblr.com

The character I’m most excited for is Kylo Ren. If you haven’t already figured it out, I absolutely love the bad guys, sometimes even more than I love the good guys! And Kylo Ren looks like a pretty great bad guy. Plus, what’s up with his lightsaber?

There have been plenty of memes mocking the design.
Image from a Google search.

Download your digital Star Wars trading cards here! Star Wars: The Force Awakens comes to theaters next December!

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Watch the 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' Teaser Trailer! (Plus, LEGO Version!)

There’s been a lot of hype about Star Wars: The Force Awakens, especially since the first teaser trailer was released this morning!

Thirty select movie theaters aired the teaser today, and it was also released on iTunes and YouTube.



I had my sister, The Disney Smart One, watch it with me, so that she could hypothesize about the new film in the franchise. She had lots to say but to sum up: as of now, TDSO is optimistic.

Excited for the return of the Falcon!
Image from ihatepeacocks.tumblr.com

So am I.

Favorite part of the trailer. Pretty epic.
Image from youareanunusualwizard.tumblr.com

What are your thoughts on the trailer? Sound off in the comments below!

See you all real soon!

***UPDATE***

If the above teaser wasn't epic enough for you, Snooperking on YouTube has created a shot-by-shot recreation teaser with LEGO pieces!



Plus, it was uploaded within a day of the official teaser. That takes some dedication!

Indiana Jones Stunt Show Closing? False!

UPDATE: As the original Facebook post has been retracted by the third party, here's a synopsis of what it said:

A rumor had been circulating that the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular! show would be closing to make room for an apparent Star Wars-themed area in Hollywood Studios.  The rumor also said the American Idol Experience would close as well.

One of my Facebook fans, Tracey Noah, asked if I knew when the closing would happen, as she really enjoys the show.  I told her I didn’t know but would research it.

And good news, Tracey: the blog Disney and more has reported the rumors are false!  Doctor Disney has also said the rumors are false, with an update stating that Cast Members were told the show will not be closing in 2014, but he did point out that the show could close in the future.  (Of course, this is obvious: any show/attraction/ride is at the risk of closing...in the future.)

Only the American Idol Experience is confirmed to be be closing to make room for Star Wars additions.

So you still have plenty of time to enjoy one of your favorite shows, Tracey!

Image from Disney and more.

For those of you unable to see the show any time soon, here’s a video of the entire show:

Have you seen the Indiana Jones stunt show?  What are your thoughts on its rumored closing? Please comment!

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Humorously, J.J. Abrams Confirms Millennium Falcon

Yesterday, TMZ.com leaked photos of the iconic Millennium Falcon being constructed for Star Wars VII.

The Internet exploded -- with Star Wars fans rejoicing.

Then director J.J. Abrams confirmed the leaked photos via Twitter, with plenty of humor.

pic.twitter.com/wQYfaVtwFU
— Bad Robot (@bad_robot) June 4, 2014

Recognize the background?

Star Wars fanatics know it as the board for Dejarik, which is the game played aboard the Falcon in the earlier films.

Image from InsidetheMagic.net

Abrams has a good sense of ironic humor.

What are your thoughts on the three upcoming Star Wars movies?

Double Dose

So you should be aware of the fact that the Walt Disney Company recently acquired Lucasfilm, the studio that brought you the thrilling Indiana Jones franchise and the beloved Star Wars saga.
Concerning Star Wars, there have been two newsworthy tidbits of well news showing up in articles everywhere.

Firstly, both The New York Times and CNN featured obituaries for Stuart Freeborn, the makeup artist responsible for creating some of your favorite Star Wars characters, such as Yoda and Chewbacca.  Freeborn was 98 and passed away on Tuesday.

As I said, he’s well known for creating the character of Yoda.  The New York Times obituary gave an explanation for how he created the green Jedi Master:

His inspiration for the look of Yoda, a puppet, came when he looked in the mirror and saw the lumps and bumps on his own face. To convey the mental power of this master of the Jedi Order, an ancient monastic peacekeeping organization in the “Star Wars” universe, he hit on the notion of using Einstein’s eye wrinkles. Yoda’s big ears popped out of Mr. Freeborn’s imagination.

According to The New York Times article, “George Lucas, the ‘Star Wars’ director, announced [Freeborn’s] death, calling him ‘a makeup legend.’”

Upcoming Episodes…And More?

The other tidbit of Star Wars news had to deal with episodes 7, 8, and 9 in the works.  Recently, Disney confirmed that J. J. Abrams was set to film episode 7, due for 2015.  Abrams is known for directing two Star Trek films.

However, it seems those three episodes are not the only things on the Walt Disney Company’s mind.

Both Mercury News and Azcentral.com posted articles that refer to the fact that Disney company is planning to create some stand-alone films too, outside of the main saga.

From the Azcentral.com article:

Walt Disney Co. CEO Bob Iger said Tuesday that screenwriters Larry Kasdan and Simon Kinberg are working on stand-alone "Star Wars" movies that aren't part of the new trilogy that's in the works.

"There has been speculation about some standalone films that have been in development, and I can confirm to you today that in fact we are working on a few stand-alone films," Iger told CNBC.  

What do you think of this?  I personally thought adding new episodes wasn’t such a great idea (but with Lucas helping, might turn out okay), but I’m definitely not excited about these spin-off movies.  

Make a buck, make a buck.

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From One Hand to Another

The big buzz right now is the news that the Walt Disney Company has bought Lucasfilm (you know, Star Wars) “for US$4.05 billion” (Wikipedia Main Page).

Before your head starts exploding with thoughts – good or bad – let me talk a bit more.

I first read about the deal on the Disney Wiki main page (under the “Did you Know” section). 
For some reason, Lucasfilm didn’t register with me.  I shrugged it off.

Then Roomie found the news – on Facebook I think – and I realized what had happened.

Both of us were shocked.  Especially with the news that Disney was planning to release Episodes 7, 8, and 9 in the near future.

I told her about how Disney already had some sort of deal with Lucasfilm, since the characters appear at the Parks and the Star Tours ride.  In a way, I was just waiting for them to seal the deal – excuse the cliché – but hoping it wasn’t going to happen.

As I went to bed last night, I told her that hopefully the reason Lucas was letting Disney buy his company was because he trusted them.

Today, I found the below video in an article at The Disney Blog..  In it, George Lucas and producer Kathleen Kennedy (whom Lucas is practically giving control of the company to) sit
down and talk with Lynne Hale to discuss the deal.

Good things in this video: Lucas trusts Disney with Star Wars.  He knows they are financially stable and, as Kathleen said, “Disney defines family entertainment” (dialogue from video transcribed by THE Disney Freak).  Lucas will also stay on as creative consultant, thank goodness.

Lucas also mentioned how even before the deal with Disney, he was planning on the next episodes.  So at least the original creative mind behind the saga was thinking ahead!  Good news, Roomie and I thought.

We’ll see what happens.

Video capture by THE Disney Freak.
Taken from the included video.

To kind of go off topic here, I really liked one thing Kathleen had to say: “The main thing is to protect these characters.  To make sure they still continue to live in the way you [Lucas] created them.”

That’s something I think Disney needs to work on with their own characters.