The CCD Podcast: Episode #16 - In Defense Of... Vol #1 or 'Optmus Prime, A Living Painting and an Ewok Walk Into A Bar'

So for Episode #16 of the CCD podcast we decided to start a little feature called 'In Defense Of...' in which each panel member basically gets a chance to defend something that they hold dear but, is widely panned by others. You know, that really unpopular opinion you have about a director... or maybe a movie/TV show, or even a musician or comic. Whatever they want to defend, the panel member gets their chance to defend their long lost love of a hated project... and then the other two members get to T off on them for being ridiculous. It is a lot of fun, and in this episode Joe Esq and Mike D join Jedi Rob for a trip to the nerd opinion courtroom. This should be fun... LOL. Make sure you head on over to iTunes, and do the following: Subscribe, Download, Listen, SHARE... REPEAT!!!

'The Original Star Wars Trilogy Re-Imagined As Westerns by Timothy Anderson

Timothy Anderson is a poster artist that has had some great ideas in the past. He killed some of Science Fictions greatest films as pulp novels (I featured him on Director's Live a while back), and now he is making the rounds with some wonderful Star Wars original trilogy posters in the vein of Western films. These posters channel the spaghetti western film posters of the past and are absolutely stunning. He is also selling these puppies in a crazy huge 24 x 36 inch poster format for just 40 bucks a piece, and you can score all three for 100 bucks. That is a wonderful price for prints that size, and I think the three of them would make a nerd wall much more complete. I think it is great that Anderson chose to highlight some of the m,ore minor moments of the films to use as subject for the posters, such as the stand off between Han & Greedo for Star Wars. I also like that he went with the Italian language on the posters. Real classy stuff... You can check out & buy more of Anderson's work by clicking here and see the Star Wars posters after the jump...

'Lair of the Rancor' Faux Movie Poster by Mark Daniels & Mark Steel

Creativity is a must when people are planning on using existing characters in fan art. One must really dig deep to make the characters their own. Not all artists can pull this off. This is especially true for Star Wars characters, due to the overwhelming amount of times we see them used. But Mark Daniels & Mark Steel found an exciting way to re-purpose two obscure characters from Return of the Jedi. 'Lair of the Rancor' gives Jabba's monster the top line spot in a throwback to the creature features of the 1950s. Gotta love the idea and execution of this one. Click after the jump to see more...

NOOOOOOOO!!!!!

The gang over at CineWeekly created a really funny video that plugs in the now infamous Darth Vader "Noooooo!!!!" scream from the recently altered Blu Ray version of Return of the Jedi into other famous scenes from some of Hollywood's most classic films. Check out the video after the jump....

The Chewy Trilogy

Check out these recut versions of the original Star Wars trilogy, this time with everyones favorite Wookie as the center of attention. These re-edited versions of movies put Chewy front and center and cut out all the other boring details. I never knew that the same sound could be expressed so many different ways. Enjoy.

The Original Star Wars Trilogy In GIF's by Mr Whaite

Mr. Whaite's Tumblr is filled with a ton of goodies... just ask Jeff Bond!!! Here are a few GIF's that sum up each of the first three Star Wars movies. Well done.

2 Pigs In A Pod

I absolutely love this drawing of a romantic evening between Miss Piggy and a Gamorrean guard from Return of the Jedi. Aren't these two perfect for each other?

Check out more of artist Loopy Dave's work by clicking here.

This Is The Way It Should Have Went Down Between Luke & Vader

This Star Wars GIF is amazing... and it would have been awesome if this scene had went down with this dialogue. Check it out!!! 

This Is The Cover Of Todays NY Post... And It's Awesome!!!

The NY Post is a tabloid, which is different then a newspaper. It means that while they report the news similar to a newspaper, they have the freedom to take some artistic liberties that newspapers like the NY Times would never take. This shows up mostly in creative headlines and covers. None have ever been better then the cover of today's sports section. It is in reference to this weekends Jets vs Patriots playoff matchup and it uses a Star Wars: Return of the Jet-i theme... oh yeah, and its awesome!

Why is this great? Here are my reasons:

1. Mark Sanchez as Luke and Bill Belicheck as Darth Vader. The Pats have pretty much owned Sanchez, so calling Belicheck his daddy may be an unintentional dig on the Jets QB by the hometown paper.
2. Rex Ryan as Han Solo. That is wonderful. I would have liked it if the big mouth Jets coach was Jabba the Hut, but whatever.
3. Ryan's foot fetish loving wife as Slave Leia... perfect.
4. Revis as Obi Wan.... nice touch.
5. The old sage Joe Namanth as Yoda... thats great.
6. The Jets logo (a jet) attacking the Death Star is cool.
7. Why does Tom Brady have no costume. They should have made him Vader and Belicheck The Emperor. Either that or Boba Fett. Even though Brady is nowhere near as useless as Fett (Brady is a football god), Fett is amazingly popular.
8. Where is Chewy, The Droids and the aforementioned Boba Fett!!!!!! You can't have a Return of the Jedi without those guys
9. This is the 3rd matchup of these teams this week, and Jedi is the 3rd Star Wars flick... good matchup!

Very clever... well done NY Post. The game is on Sunday. I hope the Pats kill the Jets. Long Live the Dark Side!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And Now For Our Next Number, Live From Jabba's Lair, It's The Max Rebo Band!!!

Artist Dave Perillo has got a treat for all you real Star Wars heads out there... The most popular band on Tatooine, Perillo brings you the cover art for The Max Rebo Band Live From Jabba's Throne Room!!!! Check out what the artist had to say about the piece on his blog:

The hit song by the hottest thing on Tatooine since the Sarlacc Pit ate chili...the Max Rebo Band!!! Apparently, the words "Lapti Nek" mean "Work it Out" in Huttesse. Too bad they replaced with "Jedi Rocks" in the Special Edition!

This my "Jim Flora" jazz album inspired tribute to band that died way too soon in that horrible Jabba Skiff explosion...let's hope they keep on Lapti Nek'ing in the afterlife...

Here it is... Enjoy!!! You can buy Dave Perillo prints at his Etsy store by clicking here.

Willow Stars In A Lost Star Wars Featurette: Return Of The Ewok

This video, "Return of the Ewok" features a 15 year old Warwick Davis aka Willow the Midget Magician returning to his role as Wicket the Ewok. This a full on movie that features Darth Vader and Boba Fett trying to kill Mr Wicket, as well as some more of the Return of the Jedi sets and everything that we love about Star Wars. Pretty cool little vid, especially if you are either a completist or huge Star Wars geek. Or if your like us, you are both. It's worth the 25 minutes. What do you guys think? Tell us in the comments below... 

Best Costume Ideas For Halloween (Now This Is How You Do It!)

Wow... just wow. If you are going to wear a costume for a convention, or Halloween, you gotta do it right. While most people epically fail at this, these two got it right. Here is why. (Photos were taken at the 2010 NYC Comic Con)

Best Male Costume: Black Manta (Aquaman Villain, DC Comics)

This guys Black Manta was spot on. Rubber Suit w/ fake abs? Check. Trident? Check. Crazy Huge Helmet made of metal? Check. Robot voice? Check. Sweaty swamp ass at the end of the day? You Betcha!!!! On the other side of the equation, both Aqualad and Catwoman left much less to be praised. In fact, the fact that the Aqualad kid had to walk around in that dicky outfit all day while Black Manta strode proud as the man must have drove him to contemplate suicide. Great Job kid!!!

Slave Leia - Return Of The Jedi - Before you start in with all the "Not another Slave Leia... there are so many of these... blah, blah, blah..." let me point out three things about THIS PARTICULAR Slave Leia:

1. She is in much better shape then most of the broads who are dressed as Slave Leia... there are some really nice girls who absolutely should never dress as Slave Leia for body type issues. This is a fact. I didn't create the costume, Lucas did. (Guess he got something right... huh Joe Esq?) The person wearing this costume should be relatively fit.
2. It's very authentic. Looks like it cost a bit. Top looks (and might have been) like real metal, as did the sides of the skirt and front piece. Cheap imitations of this particular costume usually result in an automatic fail no matter how hot the chick is in it.
3. Two words: NO DRAWS!!! Most girls who wear this outfit usually wear skin colored tights or pantyhose, so despite the fact that the sides of the dress are totally absent their who-ha is not flapping in the wind. I don't know if Carrie Fisher was bare under her costume (it was the 80's) but this young lady certainly is. How do I know? Well, when we were next to her (That's me and Sam in the background) we could see no side evidence of panties and could see that she was not wearing tights or pantyhose. That means nude in my book... hence the high ratings!!!  

Alien Chest Burster On A Baby - (From the Alien movie series)

This is a phenomenal take on the classic chest burster scene from Alien that has been parodied over and over again due to the fact it is timeless (Spaceballs... nuff said!) The fact that it is A) On a baby & B) Coming out of what appears to be a Chicken costume makes it even better. Look at how frightened that kid is... priceless. Thanks to the Great White Snark for that one. Excellent. Parents, it is your responsibility to make sure your kid's costume is on point. Do your fucking job!!!! Please leave some feedback comments below... we love to hear your opinions!

Movie Poster Mashup Masterpices

Your boy Jeff Bond always sends me the coolest stuff, and as soon as I saw these I knew I had to share. The person responsible for these is Old Red Jalopy, and you can check out his posters and other art over at his Flickr page here. Enjoy these four that he did, based on A New Hope/ Full Metal Jacket, Empire Strikes Back/Goodfellas, Return of the Jedi/ American Beauty and Revenge of the Sith/ Taxi Driver mashups. How cool are these. He left out Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones.... hmmmm, I wonder why??? What should Old Red Jalopy mash Menace and Clones up with? Post your suggestions in the comments below. Enjoy...