I like a well-turned calf as much as the next guy, but seriously people, enough with the metal bikinis already. We could've rebuilt the Twin Towers with the amount of hardware gripping flesh in LA last weekend.

I loved C IV and had a tremendous time there. But there was a slight weirdness about it. It was either the size of the venue or the lack of fervor over a soon to be released movie, but C IV lacked the energy and insanity of C III. The LA convention center is so much bigger than the one in Indy, that the place seemed almost empty at times. Empty is not the right word, more like a trickle of humanity compared to the crush at C III. That crush, I think, lent something to the camaraderie of fans. When you're stuck smelling each other's sweat and lekku pheromones every time you walk from the exhibit hall to the main stage you can't help but form a bond-no doubt like the primal connection garbage maggots experience.

You know, remembering that perpetual logjam, I'll take the weirdness of LA's wide-open space any time.

Anyway, Thursday was fairly quiet. The highlight that day for me was the Archives where I saw the real stuff from the movies: Padmé dresses, Luke's ROTJ outfit, the metal bikini (the first of far too many) and the Boba Fett costume. That was most impressive. The charred remains of Vader's mask and helmet from the pyre scene were especially intriguing to me (that's my favorite scene of all the movies). We also got to vote on whether Han's jacket from Hoth is brown or blue. It looked pretty damn brown to me.

Friday: While waiting in line to get in, a certain protocol droid stopped by to say, "Greetings."

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8633359@N08/520303742/in/photostream/

Once inside, I went to see "The Archeology of Star Wars." This was an amazing lecture given by LFL's own Dr. David West Reynolds about his search for the lost locations of A New Hope in Tunisia. Nobody knew where the Lars Homestead or Ben's Hut were. The village where they shot the Mos Eisley scenes and the canyon where Obi-Wan finds Luke were missing to the sands of time. Dr. Reynolds found them all. Really cool story and funny! Next up was a long wait to see Carrie Fisher. It was well worth it. She was awesome. Very funny, candid and endearing. More than half her time seemed centered around that darn metal bikini and we got to see it fascinatingly displayed on Hilary Clinton, among others. Someone asked Carrie if she regretted anything about her performance in Star Wars and she said she didn't like her floating English accent in A New Hope. But she liked not liking it. Which makes perfect sense. After the princess and before the opening ceremonies, I caught the first of two costume pageants at the Celebration. I love the costumes and can't get enough of them. You can see most of the favorites and winners over here:

(http://www.flickr.com/photos/starwarsblog/sets/72157600264422193/).

This one was my favorite dress (I think she said it took 16 months to construct):
(http://www.flickr.com/photos/starwarsblog/514429673/in/set-72157600264422193/)

and this was the best costume at the show:
(http://www.flickr.com/photos/starwarsblog/514436489/in/set-72157600264422193/)

The authenticity of the Gamorrean was astonishing. From head to toe it looked perfect (except the little holes for the guy's eyes). It even moved with that sumo wrestler sway that you'll remember from Jedi.

Speaking of costumes, Saturday's highlight for me was my three best friends who wore their "ghetto" Chewie, Artoo and Threepio get ups:

(http://www.flickr.com/photos/8633359@N08/520325297/).

They were so popular they couldn't go 15 feet without stopping for five to ten photos. If you were there, I was the guy in the brown Jedi outfit beside them. It was fun; I was like their Star Wars docent. We watched Star Wars in 30 minutes and the One Man Star Wars Trilogy. Both I saw at C III, but loved seeing them all over again. After all that I went and watch Star Wars Celebrity where I was amazed by one signing voice and one impressionistic comic.

A quick note about Friday's Opening Ceremonies-they gave us cake. Birthday cake for Star Wars' 30th. I thought that was really cool! I also got a plastic Artoo ring--very nice! And guess what? That's right, the slave Leia metal bikini made an appearance.

Another side note, Jay Laga'aia is lounge crooner corny. Straight outta a Vegas dive. I love him!

I didn't do much on Sunday, but the best thing about it, and probably the whole convention, was the Clone Wars panel and preview. First, the preview--which you can see on StarWars.com--brought a boom of approval from all of us in that theater. Not quite as loud and energetic as the preview of ROTS at C III, but pretty close. The cartoon looks superb and I must say that the director, Dave Filoni, seems like a super cool guy. He is a total fan. We saw a video of him in his Plo Koon costume (a quality work) waiting in line for Episode 3 and he talked like he was as excited and geeked out about Star Wars and the Clone Wars as the rest of us. The only bad thing about all that is the release date: September 2008. Yes, 8!

I didn't go Monday. I thought Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday were enough. C IV was a big thumbs up and I really enjoyed myself. Can't wait for the next Celebration hopefully a slinky outfit other than the metal bikini will have gained popularity by then.