The Bearded Trio

It is with a heavy heart I report on the news of the passing of author Jonathan "JW" Rinzler. He passed away peacefully at his home in California after a year-long bout with pancreatic cancer. He was 58 years old. Mr. Rinzler was executive editor at Lucasfilm from 2001-15, and in that time, became one of the company's most prolific and respected authors. He spent time as a teacher and professor around the United States and in Paris, France before settling in Marin County. According to blog posts he penned, he was approached by producer Rick McCallum about writing a Making of Revenge of the Sith book that would be superior to the prior two Making Of books from the first two prequel films. After starting preliminary work on that book in the latter half of 2002, Rinzler had the idea of taking the material he was gathering and creating two separate books - The Making of Revenge of the Sith and The Art of Revenge of the Sith. Both stand out of all the books in its era for prov...

J.W. RINZLER ANNOUNCES NEW BOOK ON THE CAREER OF PRODUCER HOWARD KAZANJIAN Wednesday afternoon , prolific Star Wars author J.W. Rinzler hosted a YouTube chat in which he promoted his forthcoming book "All Up" but also teased a new Star Wars-focused book project, announced for the first time. A little more than 25 minutes into the chat, Rinzler announced he will pen a book that will chronicle the career of producer Howard Kazanjian. Kazanjian is best known as the producer of both Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) and Return of the Jedi (1983). He attended USC Film School with George Lucas, and joined Lucasfilm in the wake of the success of Star Wars: A New Hope (1977), leading the company's non-Star Wars film projects. As part of that book, Rinzler revealed he conducted a four-hour interview with Marcia Lucas, the former wife of George Lucas and enormously valuable part of the editorial team during the original trilogy era. This can certainly qualify as a coup, s...

Yesterday saw the release of the enhanced ebook editions of JW Rinzler's superlative Making of Star Wars books.  Well to celebrate we decided to create a mock up and possibly give the author an idea for his new book Well Rinzler, it seems has already an idea as he replied to our tweet: @thebeardedtrio After the one on the Holiday Special. (joke) — J. W. Rinzler (@jwrinzler) October 22, 2013 Can't wait to find out how they got Fisher singing like that. Rob @Welshslider THE BEARDED TRIO ON FACEBOOK THE BEARDED TRIO ON TWITTER THE BEARDED TRIO ON GOOGLE+

Today I bought the enhanced version of J.W. Rinzler's Making of Return of the Jedi on my Kindle Fire HD.  Here's a quick video I recorded on my phone to show you the delights you can expect from the enhanced version. Rob Each enhanced eBook will include all the text and art from the print editions plus bonus multimedia content featuring around 30 minutes of rare behind the scenes video, around 15-20 minutes of rare audio interviews, and additional art work and photos. The enhanced eBooks will be compatible with iPads (and iPad Minis), the Amazon Kindle app for Apple devices, Kindle Fire devices, Nook HD and Tablets, and the Google Play Books Reader for Android and Nexus devices. We also have to add this note whenever talking about the availability on platforms: Functionality of the audio/video content is subject to your eBook device. Check the store listing on your favorite eBook retailer site to find out whether your device is capable of playing audio and video element...

Out today are the enhanced ebook versions of J.W. Rinzler's Making Of Star Wars books.  How can perfection be improved I hear you ask?  Well the ebook versions come with 30 minutes of rare video footage, approx 20 minutes of audio interviews and additional artwork.  So if you have an Ipad, Kindle Fire, Nook HD or a Google Play book reader enabled device then you are in for a treat. I've ordered mine today.  The price is £17.76 from the time of writing this. Each enhanced eBook will include all the text and art from the print editions plus bonus multimedia content featuring around 30 minutes of rare behind the scenes video, around 15-20 minutes of rare audio interviews, and additional art work and photos. The enhanced eBooks will be compatible with iPads (and iPad Minis), the Amazon Kindle app for Apple devices, Kindle Fire devices, Nook HD and Tablets, and the Google Play Books Reader for Android and Nexus devices. We also have to add this note whenever talki...