Man!nWe just had Star Wars Day (May the Fourth Be With You), and Geek Pride Day, which celebrates the first Star Wars movie’s first releasenin 1977, is almost upon us—do we really want to celebrate GeorgenLucas (the director / producer / writer of Star Wars) this month,ntoo???
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Lucas made a couple of generations
of kids aware of just how cool
archeology can be…
Not to mention fedoras! |
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nWell,nwe could celebrate the George Lucas who is the director / producer /nwriter of the Indiana Jones movies. (Same guy, I know!)
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nAtnany rate, a long time ago (on this date in 1944), in a placenfar, far away (Modesto, California—which to tell you the truthnisn’t so very far from where I live), George Lucas was born.
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nHenshowed an early passion for—are you thinking movies? Space?nArcheology?
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nNonto all three.
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nLucasnloved cars and car racing. He spent most of his high school yearsnhanging out at garages and racing cars, and he wanted to race carsnprofessionally. In 1962, when he’d just turned 18, he got in a badnaccident at a car race and nearly died. n
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nLuckilynfor him, and for all of us, Lucas didn’t die. Instead, he went toncollege and also started filming things with an 8 mm camera. About andecade later he made American Graffiti, a really good filmnwith a surprisingly low budge—and, yes, it involves his hometown ofnModesto, and yes, it involves a lot of car action, as the movienfocuses on teenagers “cruising” one particular night away. Then,nof course, it was Star Wars and Raiders of the Lost Arknand…
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nThenrest, as they say, is history!
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nPlannAhead…
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nChecknout my Pinterest boards of Maynholidays, historicalnevents in May,nand Maynbirthdays.
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nAlsonon this date:
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nUnderground America Day
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nBotanistnMikhail Tsvett’s birthday
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nMathematiciannJohn C. Fields’s birthday
