The Royce Files

The following is a fictional account of a fictional character concerning a real item that I unearthed in a real store recently.  In between his debut on the big screen and he periodic returns, Mr. Vader acquired a math teaching licensure from an online correspondence school. I think it may have been Southern Dakota University since the Dark Lord of the Sith has been rather evasive when it came describing to his additional training. His LinkedIn just lists a SDU with coursework listed as "Maths."  Following that educational turn, Darth took a position as a Youngling Numeric Inquistator at the Dantooine Force Institute for two terms. Scant records exist of his time at the Institute because months following his dismissal, the school mysteriously disappeared from all charts. Literally obliterated from existance. One mech droid was uncovered years later and scanned. From that scan a few Vader records were recovered. The Institure was impressed with Darth's wielding of maths bu...

Another entry for classic toys. This one is another Fisher Price production. The Adventure People were a line of action figures and play sets produced by FP from the mid-70s until mid-80s. These 3 inch figures were around prior to the Kenner Star Wars line and had no built in marketing ploy to advance the line further. But that did not deter the kids who got these for birthdays or Christmas combining them into the Star Wars universe like myself. The Adventure People were pioneers in the small action figure market.  The Adventure People were cool and durable toys. Just look at that commercial. FP wanted kids,boys and GIRLS, to really play with these figures. Quite a few sets produced centered around outdoor recreation- a camping set with jeep and canoe, a van with a dirt bike, a safari set with truck and tent, a kayak set, scuba divers. Midway through their run, there were more sets and figures geared toward space or sci-fi.  My small assemblage I acquired as a child...

This is not about the foods we encounter in the Star Wars universe. Instead it is about Star Wars encountering food in our universe. Hunting and gathering Star Wars material has been relatively easy these days. Since Disney swooped up the Lucas empire, Star Wars is even more embedded into American culture. I surmise Lucas did not intend to craft a story in which has a Darth Vader like force hold on the public. Turn to left or the right and some Star Wars tie in has been created. And it is now even reaching into the food we consume. Chez Its had it and now Campbell's does too. It would appear that the Empire/First Order folks have found a niche in the food market.   Soup is Star Wars food Back in the day- the pre-re-release era - Star Wars kept to toys, T-shirts, books and trading cards. But there was 1 anomaly- C3POs, the cereal. I recall it murkily. We rarely had cold cereals. My childhood breakfasts included mostly Malt-O-Meal hot cereal or CoCo Wheats. But t...

Post Yuletide Greetings or if you are reading this months after it was posted- Hi. So this year Star Wars made a major move into Christmastide vernacular- or to put it another way there was a whole lot more Merry Star Wars Christmasy stuff going on. Big movie releases at Christmas and merch centered around kids can do that. The Star Wars space opera permeates the US culture and you do not need me to tell you that. I can count on a single hand the people who have not seen any Star Wars movie. Star Wars and Christmas- sort of an odd couple. Both have big story lines that combine family, friendship and redemption. Star Wars has lasers and light sabers but Christmas has an actual star.  Star Wars did get a late jump on Christmas merchandising from the start. Although the movie arrived in theaters in May of 1977 a campy 98 minute Christmas special landed on the small screen in November the following year. It is filled with 1970s variety show cliches with a few Star Wars ...

I am exhausted. I think ran the marathon. However, I did not. I spectated. However, after spectacting in the early hours of morning I mowed the lawn then tilled the garden. And all this is after spending most of Friday up at the Fargo Dome volunteering and watching my MFS run the 5K. Rain may have put a damper on the 1st part of the race but the sun pulled out a major comeback by mid-morning. Yeah SUN! I am much surprised and impressed that Chris Erichsen pulled out a victory in the men's marathon. Both times I saw him he was trailing in 2nd place. Nichole Porath took the women's title. She had a commanding lead both a mile 4 and later around 18. I also got to check her in at the elite runner check in. And Fargo's finest Eric Loeffler won the half. He continues to stand astride the top runners in the region. But let's begin with my extended coverage of the races- beyond the races and to the intrigue. This post will cover the "celebrities" at the 5K...

Long ago and far away, a time of mutual dismay Some battle station plans got parlayed You'd like to know more, I daresay. Pursued by evil men. the plucky gal did flee Hoping to bring peace, at last, to the galaxy If Ted Geisel, aka Dr Seuss , wrote the Star Wars saga, it would have begun like that. He would have had to pay me for it as I just wrote it, but my rates are reasonable. And of course it would have been animated and Ralph McQuarrie would be a lowly Hollywood draftsman. But alas, this did not happen. However, someone named Watson, and no not that smart computer, decided to meme Stars Wars with the world of Seuss. You can find it here . It would be funny, too, if Bill Murray wrote Star Wars. Not into Dr. Seuss? Well you can enjoy Star Wars: The Musical in Cocoa Beach Florida this week. The original creation, in that it was written not by Lucas but by students, will feature parody songs. The idea of Star Wars: The Musical has been an ide...

Seems like Star Wars is coming to blu-ray. Oh, really. Star Wars is also making its way in swimwear . You can take a dip in the pool pretending to be Threepio or Artoo. But these are only for the ladies. Guys, you'd look rather strange in these suits. The swimwear seem to harken back to Underoos. I seem to recall that Star Wars had quite a line of underwear for the kiddies. I think I had Darth Vader.

Entries have bee sparse of late. 2 weeks ago I lead a expedition to the BWCA up the Nina Moose and into Lac La Croix. Then the weekend following I ended up painting an entire house and attending a picnic in the Grand Cities. Of course you could point the finger at me- as a blogger you should be writing about those things. And eventually I will. Just not all right now. In fact I've got to get the bike adventure finished before I begin the canoe voyage saga. But in this entry you will hear enough about those days to be satisfied. While out in the wilderness we came across some pictographs which you see above. This are the pictographs you can find on Rocky Lake, which is accessible via the Little Sioux Indian or Moose River North entry points. They are nothing like the ones just a few miles away on Lac La Croix. No discernible figures here except for perhaps a representation of a deity (the crosses). The set at Rocky Lake don't get much attention. I found very little even sugges...

Adidas released this long commercial featuring amongst others Daft Punk, Snoop Dog, and David Beckham. There may be others in this advert for the World Cup but I am unsure who they all are. I think I saw Noel Gallagher. The commercial blends these notables into the cantina scene from Star Wars (the one that came out in 1977). It's good for a grin or two. World Cup kicks off this Friday with game 1 Mexico versus hosts South Africa. I suspect it will be a lively affair. At every World Cup the host nation has made it out of the group stages. However, this time around it appears that some pundits are predicting this won't be the case. However, the unknown elements of these tournaments bestow special favor upon hosts. I am hoping the match will be free flowing and the South Africans will surprise Mexico by coming up with a draw. The big game for the Yanks on the weekend sees them play a star studded but a bit staggering England side. The English always seem to get plenty of...

Star Wars Uncut - Scene 086 from Liam Royce on Vimeo . Now you can see what I've been up to in that month in video production. It's only about 15 seconds but I was pretty much my own production company. I'm hoping to make more as time is available.

Scene 5- Gil T. Robot This robot (or should I say android) has a penchant for entering people's home and drinking their beer. This robot was caught in Phil's garage attempting to pilfer any beer. Unfortunately the robot ended up drinking diesel and picked up a slight flutter. He began berating us for getting him lost and marooned in a garage then warned us to not trust any little hooded creatures. Phil directed the robot into the closet. Eventually, Gil left but not after making a sparkling mess everywhere. He also doubled as Treepio in my part of Star Wars: Uncut. But that's another story, far, far away. There might be more dastardly disguises coming but that will depend on whether I go out tonight searching for them.