Weekly ForceCast: January 25, 2008

Birthdays[]

There are no Star Wars celebrity birthdays, but Jason and Pete wish a happy birthday to several ForceCast listeners.

"Ah well, hello ho ho. Don't be alarmed m'lady. It's just me, Billy Dee. Black Santa. Go fetch me some cookies. Oh Billy Dee, oh Billy Dee, how sexy is your sexiness." (From Jimmy Kimmel Live, December 20, 2006)

Jedi-Con 2008 will be held March 21-23, 2008 in Dusseldorf, Germany. Rick McCallum and Steve Sansweet are scheduled to make appearances.
A Force Unleashed press conference is impending. The expected announcement is that the game's release will be delayed until summer 2008.
According to the February 2008 issue of Official XBOX Magazine, The Force Unleashed will feature a multiplayer option, a third person gameplay perspective, and a different costume for each level. The game's developers are planning for a Teen rating. Jason and Pete discuss new Force powers and some minor game spoilers.
Rebelscum reports that The Force Unleashed could be released as late as August 28, 2008.
Pete shares a story from San Jose Mercury News sports blogger John Ryan in which John's young son tells him he uses the Force to defeat his opponents on the basketball court.
The BBC reports that brothers Barney and Daniel Jones are planning to open a Jedi church in England to explore various aspects of the Force. Jason and Pete discuss the generalizations non-Star Wars fans have about Star Wars fans.
Rebelscum Japan launches.
Russell Walks will provide promotional artwork for the upcoming Indiana Jones film.

An 11 year old boy from the UK used his toy lightsaber to fight off a man who attacked his mother.

A convicted murder serving time in a high security prison in England officially changed his name to Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Siobahn emails in her thoughts on American Idol and Star Wars fan stereotypes.
Nick emails in to react to the Jedi church in England and discusses the dangers of learning martial arts from inexperienced instructors.
Glen emails in to say that he felt the book Star Wars: A Pop-Up Guide to the Galaxy should have been included in the ForceCast's 2007 Year in Review show. Jason and Pete discuss their experiences with Star Wars pop-up books.
Nate emails in to say that one of his favorite ForceCast moments is Jason doing an impression of Jimmy saying "What's a mod?" He requests that Jimmy does an impression of Jason doing an impression of Jimmy,

Jason and Pete play a clip from the ForceCast forum thread "You know you're a true ForceCast friend when..."
Forcecastmod.wordpress.com is asking for contest submissions by fans who would like to have their likeness superimposed over one of the ForceCast characters in their Star Wars: BattleFront II mod. Contest entries should include face and full body photographs.
Jason and Pete discuss possible names for ForceCast characters in the Battlefront II mod:
Jason Swank - Jase Windu
Pete Nadel - Pete Snitkin
Jay Shepherd - Jaycosta Nu
Dustin Roberts - R2Dustin2
Dan Curto - Figrin D'an Curto
Ed Dolista - Indiana Ed or Ed Jones
Jimmy Mac - Macster
Dustin Roberts is taking application for positions in the Books and Fan Art sections of TheForce.net.
Jason discusses getting an Ewok Playset for Christmas and plays a clip of Jimmy getting his Ewok Playset out for his five year old son to play with.
The Simpsons Movie DVD features a reproduction of the Springfield Shopper with a brief Star Wars review by Homer Simpson. Also, in a clip from the movie's audio commentary, sequence director Rich Moore mentions a scene where Carl is acting like Lando Calrissian at the Ewok celebration in Return of the Jedi.
Jason reveals that Star Wars Jeopardy will be featured on an upcoming ForceCast episode.