Orson Welles's radio War of the Worlds recreated by the casts of Star Trek.
posted by feelinglistless on Oct 30, 2009 - 23 comments

Mrs. Slocombe is no longer free. Actress Mollie Sugden has died at 86, after a long illness. Best known as the irascible Mrs. Slocombe in the long running British sitcom "Are You Being Served?" who famous cared a great deal about her pussy.
posted by dnash on Jul 1, 2009 - 84 comments

Preserved in the cave excavations of Mogao and listing 1,339 stars the Dunhuang Star Chart is the oldest graphical star atlas known to exist. Dated to between 649 and 684 AD, it features two sections. The first consists of 26 diagrams of asterisms (including a recognizable Big Dipper and Orion) and the second contains 12 star maps each showing a 30 degree east-west section of sky in cylindrical projection plus an azimuthal projection circumpolar map. Star positions are accurate to within 1.5 degrees and it includes some stars in the southern sky. [more inside]
posted by Mitheral on Jun 28, 2009 - 10 comments

Snatch Wars (Snatch vs. Star Wars) (SLYT, NSFW due to very bad language). [more inside]
posted by slimepuppy on May 11, 2009 - 14 comments

Star Trek Lives. You may have heard - a new Star Trek film has opened to critical acclaim and box office bofo; Variety writes it "beamed up $76.5 million"). How are Kirk and Spock fans coping with this reboot/reimaging/alternate universe? And how are Kirk/Spock slash writers holding up? [more inside]
posted by crossoverman on May 10, 2009 - 203 comments

"Wookiees and Bea Arthur? Luke Skywalker and Harvey Korman? Singing and dancing and storm troopers? If George Lucas had his way, no one would remember, but yes, Virginia, there was a Star Wars Holiday Special."

Indeed there was (Google video). [Holiday Special previously on metafilter: 1, 2] Bonus Star Wars audition footage below the fold. [more inside]
posted by dersins on Apr 29, 2009 - 53 comments

Top 10 Star Wars Sports Crossovers. Chewbacca throwing out the first pitch at Fenway is priceless.
posted by jon_hansen on Jan 21, 2009 - 25 comments

Star Wars Battlefront III: a preview of a recently canceled game that apparently had plans to turn our good ol' ghost-ey friend Old Ben Kenobi into a Dark Jedi. [more inside]
posted by azarbayejani on Jan 16, 2009 - 43 comments

Star Wars: Retold (by someone who hasn't seen it).
posted by chunking express on Jan 15, 2009 - 169 comments

"Some people hustle pool; some people hustle cars. Then there's that man you've heard about, the one who hustles stars!" Greetings, greetings, fellow stargazers! Looking toward your computer screen today, you'll find Jack Horkheimer: Star Gazer, a five-minute show that has been in weekly production for over thirty years, airing in-betweensies on many PBS stations. Contrary to the cheeky bio on Jack's website, it wasn't always easy for Jack to "keep looking up!" This 9/19/1982 Miami Herald article reveals that he grew up as a sickly boy, eventually meandering to Florida to stumble into his avocation and vocation as Director of the Miami Space Transit Planetarium, only to watch his life's work almost crumble due to a PR nightmare. Since then, however, things have been much better: Star Gazer (originally called Star Hustler, then changed in 1997 due to internet search engines leading people to Hustler Magazine's website) has been nationally syndicated since 1985 (and internationally since 1989), chalking up over 1500 episodes. A book of his monthly cartoons has been published. The Astronomical League sponsors The Jack Horkheimer Award for Exceptional Service by a Young Astronomer. (2008's winner.) So whether you find Jack avuncular or creepy, Jack Horkheimer is, to many, the face of popular backyard astronomy. [more inside]
posted by not_on_display on Dec 16, 2008 - 37 comments

Star Wars Technical Commentaries. Learn about the Endor Holocaust. [previously] Learn why it's not really called a "Super Star Destroyer," and why it's not actually five miles long. You can even learn what all those little pips and cylinders mean! [more inside]
posted by cthuljew on Dec 6, 2008 - 66 comments

Find the Star, a third time Following on from this and this, here's a third installment.
posted by le morte de bea arthur on Sep 26, 2008 - 15 comments

The Death Star rises over San Francisco. A video. Just some footage shot during Imperial Fleet Week in SF.
posted by uaudio on Aug 16, 2008 - 51 comments

Star Trek: The Animated Series + Shatner (previously) "singing" (previ|ously) Common People (previously) = THIS.
posted by Sys Rq on Jun 9, 2008 - 40 comments

“Here was an object brand new. At first we didn’t recognize it.” Dr. Alicia Soderberg on the discovery of Supernova 2008D, using the Swift satellite telescope....
posted by Kronos_to_Earth on May 21, 2008 - 15 comments

A founding father of DIY indie rock, Will Rigby recounts the pilgrimages to locate underground rock legends Alex Chilton, (during his wry Americana deconstructo anarchy phase), and the 'McCartney' to Chilton's Big Star 'Lennon', the Brydsian Chris Bell. Blogs on bands may not seem to rate but cats with these sensibilities, unlike today, seemed incredibly uncommon then . Also mentioned, the Dbs, Little Diesel, and Mitch Easter. Free Mp3s of the rare 45s included.
posted by celerystick on May 2, 2008 - 12 comments

Global Warming Video, From Still Images Twenty days. Twenty thousand still images. A single message. Toronto Star photographer Lucas Oleniuk captures the issue of global warming in a video created entirely by using still images.
posted by doug3505 on Apr 2, 2008 - 18 comments

Hoshi Saga 2. Once again, your goal is to uncover the hidden star in each stage. [flash, via]
posted by churl on Mar 21, 2008 - 10 comments

Star Wars according to a 3 year old.
posted by dersins on Mar 20, 2008 - 100 comments

Some performers like to add quite a bit of their own style, while others keep it strictly operatic. Some prefer to keep it simple, while others pull out all the stops. Some performers don't even sing it, and some really belt it out. And now, please rise! All links YouTube.
posted by fandango_matt on Nov 3, 2007 - 16 comments

Billions and Billions astrophotography CCD gallery / film gallery / equipment / tutorials
posted by Blazecock Pileon on Sep 14, 2007 - 7 comments

Channel 4's Star Stories! exposes the truths behind the rising & falling of some of your favo(u)rite celebrities: Madonna, Simon Cowell, Britney Spears, George Michaels, Tom Cruise, Catherine Zeta Jones, Posh and Becks, and Take That. Partial episodes: Brad/Jen/Angelina and Jude Law. Occasionally NSFW (language/simulated sex)
posted by miss lynnster on Aug 20, 2007 - 25 comments

And now for something completely different: A star with a tail like a comet. (Cool pic). Don't know how we missed it. It's one of the most well-known stars in the sky and the tail is 13 light-years long, or about 20,000 times the average distance of Pluto from the sun.
posted by spock on Aug 15, 2007 - 44 comments

Web Analytics According to Captain Kirk: As the data shows, Captain Kirk "making contact" with alien women has an impact on the crew's survival. The red-shirt death rate is higher when a fight breaks out than when Kirk meets a woman and a fight breaks out.
posted by Cool Papa Bell on Jul 31, 2007 - 28 comments

Silent Star Wars. (YouTube)
posted by fandango_matt on Jul 28, 2007 - 13 comments

Learn to navigate using the stars in 15 minutes! OK, well maybe not navigate, but you'll know exactly where Orion, Betelgeuse, Polaris (the North Star), Cassiopeia, and Jupiter are.
posted by Mave_80 on Jul 26, 2007 - 36 comments

Find the star in each stage. [flash]
posted by churl on May 31, 2007 - 29 comments

"America's First Sightless Gunslinger" is upset that Minnesota denied him a gun permit. After all, he has permits from North Dakota and Utah. Carey McWilliams, the shootist, is also worried that North Dakota will lower standards for issuing a permit, but luckily Tucker Carlson is on the job. Videos, explanations of his shooting technique, and links to purchase his autobiography "Guide Dogs and Guns: America's First Blind Marksman Fires Back" (his is also the author of "Moonlight's Meridian: Nuclear Terrorism And the Undead ") are all posted on his personal website. But can we trust this guy? Is he really the first Sightless Gunslinger? Ringo Star and Armand Assante may have something to say about it.
posted by Muddler on May 16, 2007 - 20 comments

A Tranquil Star ...for a discussion of stars our language is inadequate and seems laughable, as if someone were trying to plow with a feather. (via)
posted by grateful on Feb 6, 2007 - 11 comments

Two new takes on the world of Star Wars: "The public choice economics of Star Wars: A Straussian reading"; and "A New Sith, or Revenge of the Hope:Reconsidering Star Wars IV in the light of I-III." Were the Jedi actually useless and powerhungry? Was R2-D2 the true hero of the rebellion? Most importantly, where do people find the time to come up with this stuff?
posted by nevercalm on Jan 27, 2007 - 85 comments

Heart attacks, not overdoses, number one cause of musicians' early demise. An almost-thorough list of dead rock stars, but there are some "cause" blanks that need filling in.
posted by usedwigs on Jan 25, 2007 - 46 comments

Celebrity Star Wars via CityRag via Egotastic
posted by geekyguy on Oct 25, 2006 - 6 comments

Planning a jump to Barnard's Star? Making the Kessel Run in 11 parsecs? You'll need maps. Also available in a solid state format from Bathsheba Sculpture. (Previously)
posted by loquacious on Sep 16, 2006 - 11 comments

Star Trek, upgraded. The Trek Enhanced project (previously discussed here) is now a reality. CBS has remastered the show for broadcast with digital enhancements to both visual effects and sound. Daren Dochterman (of the original project) offers his commentary here.
posted by O9scar on Sep 15, 2006 - 38 comments

Star Trek is forty today. The basics of the series are well-known, the cultural impact is worldwide, and the letter-writing campaign to get a third season out of the network has spawned thousands of imitators, though only a very few are ever successful. The show has spawned twenty-seven other series and five hundred movies. (Okay, maybe not that many.) Though exhorted by the original series' star to Get a life, the fans of Star Trek -- whether they call themselves Trekkies or Trekkers -- are without a doubt the nutbars inspiration for the joys and insanity of all media fandom which has followed. I am proud to name myself among them. K'Plagh!
posted by tzikeh on Sep 8, 2006 - 44 comments

Pictures from the Hubble telescope
posted by Orange Goblin on Aug 13, 2006 - 23 comments

# ^ ! & *
posted by Plutor on Jul 26, 2006 - 47 comments

3D Starmaps by Winchell Chung. (I knew him for his game illustrations before I ever knew about his starmaps.) The site contains lots of information about how to make 2D/3D starmaps from standard star tables, a nice selection of pre-existing maps and one of the best listings of 3D starmap software around.
posted by jiawen on Jul 23, 2006 - 12 comments

Vader Sessions Don't be a hater. Heeere's Vader (YouTube)
posted by Arch_Stanton on Jul 15, 2006 - 34 comments

Starlight: a meditation. From the always excellent 3QD.
posted by lalochezia on May 30, 2006 - 13 comments

The US and Canadian national anthems as delivered this week in Edmonton, Ontario. [youtube video]
posted by tsarfan on May 27, 2006 - 66 comments

Rotating RAdio Transients (RRATs) are one of the newest things in radio astronomy. According to Sky and Telescope magazine, a team of astronomers analyzing data from the Parkes Radio Telescope have seen a number of neutron stars that have emitted sporadic but powerful radio bursts. RRATs (pdf) have spin properties that resemble magnetars. The Square Kilometer Array (SKA) could help find many new RRATs.
posted by Fat Guy on Jan 6, 2006 - 12 comments

"R2 that seg fault is popping up again, see if you can lock it down!"
posted by Witty on Oct 26, 2005 - 20 comments

Neal Stephenson wrote an excellent editorial today in the NY Times on Star Wars. Quite good.
posted by about_time on Jun 17, 2005 - 55 comments

Darth Vader reads your mind.
posted by Justin Case on May 29, 2005 - 79 comments

Mamie Van Doren's Blog.
posted by Silky Slim on May 21, 2005 - 29 comments

Commentary, insights, and first impressions of the new Star Wars film, "Return of the Jedi."
posted by Snyder on May 19, 2005 - 39 comments

Movie review of the month. Anthony Lane writes in the New Yorker, "No, the one who gets me is Yoda. May I take the opportunity to enter a brief plea in favor of his extermination? Any educated moviegoer would know what to do, having watched that helpful sequence in “Gremlins” when a small, sage-colored beastie is fed into an electric blender."
posted by mert on May 18, 2005 - 116 comments

Dun dun dun duuuuuun DUUUUUUUN dun dun dun DUUUUUUUUUN duuuuun dun dun dun DUUUUUUUUN duuuuuuun dun dun dun duuun!
posted by Simon! on May 17, 2005 - 67 comments

Kevin Smith reviews Revenge of the Sith [BIG spoilers] and goes head over heels for it, saying it rights all the wrongs of the previous two movies. We all know Smith is a diehard Star Wars fan who was just as disappointed by the prequels as the rest of us - viz his recent conversation with Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright for Empire magazine. But do we still trust him after Jersey Girl?
posted by LondonYank on May 2, 2005 - 60 comments