Impressive. Most Impressive.

There's no denying that I'm a huge Star Wars fan. For Halloween Paul and I (well, mostly Paul) set up a projector in our backyard so we could watch "A New Hope" with friends and neighbors. After seeing that, of course, we just had to watch The Empire Strikes Back the next day (we watched that one inside, since it was pretty cold and we didn't want to continue to bother our neighbors with our geek fest).

On the heels of that, I just found these photos of Star Wars actors in between shoots on Wired. Part of me wants to look away, since these real photos belie the existence of another galaxy that I totally subscribe to every time I see one of the Star Wars films. But I love seeing how young George Lucas was as well as how many endlessly creative people participated in the film (and the fact that it was made 2 years before I was born).

P.S. Anthony Daniels couldn't sit down in his C-3P0 costume, so when he needed to rest he leaned on this board. In the blazing sun, in Tunisia. Yikes.

Picasso's Light Paintings

Oh, Picasso. He's been dead for 37 years but still manages to pop up on the internet with cool ideas. For instance, these photographs on Google's Life images database.



The story behind them: In 1949 Picasso's friend and Life Magazine photographer Gijon Mili presented Picasso with light "pencils, and then photographed him while he designed these incredible figures. Mili thought these photos were extraordinary because they illustrate Picasso's creative brain with much more immediacy than any sculpture or painting.

What I love about the photos is not just the beautiful figures but the way his squat, bald and shorts-wearing 68 year old body seems to be exuding creativity from every sore joint.