The Bearded Trio

The year hasn’t ended yet, but we lost two more Star Wars icons in December with Dave Prowse and Jeremy Bulloch . I never had the pleasure of meeting Dave Prowse, but got his autograph quite a while back when OfficialPix had done a signing with him. I did however, have many opportunities to meet Jeremy Bulloch and got his signature on action figures, 8x10’s and what not. He was always very kind and pleasant and was a joy to be around. Back in November of 2017, there was a convention in the Chicagoland area called “Days of the Dead”, which is primarily a horror-themed con, but Jeremy Bulloch was appearing there, and they were offering a rare chance for a photo-op with him IN the Boba Fett armor, with Han Solo in carbonite as a backdrop. Everyone got two pictures with him, one with the helmet on, and one with it off. I was so glad to have had that opportunity. The other photo-op I did with him was back at “Star Wars Celebration Anaheim” in 2015. It was a group pic of him along with Dan...

This month we lost a legend in the world of movies as Sir Sean Connery passed away at the age of 90.  Dan Dudych takes a look back at the first time he watch The Last Crusade and how Sean Connery became a fan favourite. I was shocked and saddened to hear of the passing of Sean Connery. Now, the first Bond film I saw was “Moonraker”, and that was on television, so Roger Moore was the first James Bond I came to know. I eventually did see all the films, no matter who was playing 007, but what I most remember Connery from was “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade”. I still remember a local record store was giving out complimentary tickets to an advance screening of the film, and I got there before the store even opened to be sure I secured mine. I went with a friend and remember the sound going out two or three times in the first ten minutes of the film and thought; “This is off to a great start.”, but then everything ran smoothly, it was a great time, and I thoroughly enjoyed the movie...

Dan Dudych looks back at the incredible Kurtz/Joiner Archive (KJA) at Empire Con L.A. 2019. Rather than trying to explain what the “KJA” are, I thought I’d take the explanation directly from their website: www.kurtzjoinerarchive.com The Kurtz/Joiner Archive is the collaboration of Gary Kurtz (Star Wars producer /filmmaker and vice president of Lucasfilm up until 1981) and Jason Joiner (Collector and Guinness world record holder for the largest Star Wars collection and film historian) In 1991 they met at Gary’s production offices in London to talk about Gary’s work on the Star Wars films. Jason had been interviewing crew members for the previous two years in an attempt to preserve and record as many of the crew’s memories as possible for future generations of fans. When they met, it was a genuine meeting of minds, as Gary really liked that Jason was finding out the real history from the crew that made the films. Jason was amazed by how much knowledge Gary had retained and soon real...

  This coming weekend was to have been Wizard World in Chicago. A pop-culture con that has appearances from celebrities in the film, television, and comic book world. This year I was going just to meet Emily Swallow, who portrays the Armorer in “The Mandalorian”. But COVID-19 pushed that convention back until June of 2021. Who knows if any of the attending guest list they already had will be able to make the new dates?      Of course, next weekend was when Star Wars Celebration 2020 was to have taken place. I know my wallet and bank account are quite pleased with my being able to stay home during this time, and thinking about it myself, I’m glad I’m not having to risk my health to attend said events. I heard someone say that conventions won’t be returning to normal until 2022! So, IF cons are to take place next year, and IF a cure or vaccine for COVID isn’t available yet, what does everyone think cons would/should look like?      My own opini...

DAN's Deliberation: Dan Dudych Gives Us His Thoughts On "Movies In Concerts" And How They Could Return Back on Nov 25th of 2018, the “Chicago Symphony Orchestra” had a screening of “The Empire Strikes Back” with the CSO providing all of John Williams’ score. I paid the extra $$$ to get a seat up close and it was sooooooo worth it! The minute the film started and the music began, my eyes welled up with tears, it was so incredibly moving and beautiful. I had never attended anything like this before and could not wait for them to do this again with another SW film. They did it for “Jurassic Park” & “Harry Potter”, as well as some other films, but my interests were with “Star Wars” and the “Indiana Jones” films. The CSO was going to do “Return of the Jedi” this summer, but that was cancelled due to COVID. They are also supposed to do “The Force Awakens” towards the end of the year, but who knows if that will happen or be cancelled as well?  If they were to put t...