Usticke Family Blog

Today I attended:

• George Lucas making his first convention appearance in a decade
• Star Wars Art Show
• Jabba’s Palace Reunion
• An Hour with Warwick Davis
• Collectibles Roadshow, which is like Antique Roadshow; I had some items appraised
• Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace Film
• Celebration at Celebration III

Former AOL Star Wars Fan Club members:

	Dan Wallace (OtterPop) started with an online guide to Star Wars planets on AOL 10+ years ago and is now the author of numerous official Star Wars books and articles
Charyl, Lynne, Shannon & Alec again

Star Wars Celebration in a nutshell: lines, lines, and more lines.

Well, it wasn’t all that bad, because I got to attend many events:

• One Man Star Wars Trilogy
• Strange and Comical Star Wars Collectibles
• Live from Italy: Hayden Christensen, who plays Anakin Skywalker (soon to be Darth Vader)
• Episode III Spectacular with producer Rick McCallum
• Stars Wars in 30 Minutes
• Star Wars Fan Film Awards

I also got to meet a few more former AOL Star Wars Fan Club members, who I’ve known 10+ years (some only online).

	Jesse (Ghent) and his wife Rosanna. Jesse proposed to Rosanna three years ago at Star Wars Celebration II.
From left: Billy (Quest); Sarah, Jim’s wife; Jim (Vader129); Alfonso, who came all the way from Mexico; Isela, Alfonso’s wife; Alec (Uncle Owen)

On Thursday, I attended:

• Star Wars: The Musical Experience
• An Interview with Ian McDiarmid, who plays Emperor Palpatine
• Expo & Exhibit Hall
• Fan Fair Hall, which includes Star Wars cars, fan clubs, and other neat features
• Autograph Hall
• Opening Ceremonies

Starwars.com has coverage of C3 with events and pictures here.

Star Wars Celebration III (C3) starts Thursday, but I arrived in Indianapolis Wednesday afternoon. After getting settled at the hotel, I headed over to the convention center to pick up the schedule. A few fans were already in costume.

I had dinner with some old AOL Star Wars Fan Club (AOLSWFC) friends.

Stormtroopers on patrol	Jango Fett
Droid	Dirty Stormtrooper
Off duty	Crowd control
Finally a good guy	Um, which movie was he in again?

Charyl (Hooks) and Mark (A BoyScout) met online at my AOLSWFC trivia game 11 years ago. They married in 2001 and had their son Alexander 16 months ago. They claim he wasn’t named after me.

Alec is in Indianpolis attending Star Wars Celebration III, a convention celebrating the release of Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith. I attended the first Celebration in Denver in 1999 and the second in Indianapolis in 2002.

BioWare, the creator of NeverWinter Nights, profiled Alec’s game server Bastions of War in their BioWare Wednesday feature.

Wednesday, Apr 06 2005 Neverwinter Profile: Bastions of War Bastions of War is a team-based, player versus player, arena module where NWN fans can flex their powergaming muscles, work out their daily stress, and beat the crap out of gnomes, bards, elves, and other deserving folk. 😛 We spoke with Alec Usticke, BoW’s chief admin and scripter, to find out more about this entertaining mod.