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Geek Tyrant
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Geek Tyrant
All the Awesome STAR WARS Easter Eggs in Luthen Rael's Shop in ANDOR — GeekTyrant
The Star War series Andor wasn't interested in nostalgia for nostalgia's sake. It doesn't drop in characters just to make fans point at the screen. While Tony Gilroy kept the narrative lean and meaningful, the rest of the creative team, especially the set designers, had a field day sneaking in some cool Easter eggs, and nowhere is that more evident than in Luthen Rael's elegant, mysterious antique shop. Luthen's Coruscant storefront, Galactic Antiquities and Objects of Interest, might just be a cover for rebel dealings, but make no mistake: it's packed with deep lore, rare relics, and blink-and-you'll-miss-it treasures that even the most devoted Star Wars fans are still picking apart. It's like the Star Wars version of a high-end gallery crossed with a lore junkie's fever dream. With Season 2 now streaming on Disney+, confirmed a whole new batch of props, alongside some returning favorites from Season 1. Let's take a tour through this gallery of galactic goodies, and unpack just how much history is packed into those shelves and pedestals. From Season 2: 1. Sith Chalice This incense burner was used in ancient rituals and looks suspiciously like the one Palpatine kept in his office in Revenge of the Sith. That artifact was found on Malachor, but Luthen? No one knows how he got his hands on his. 2. Wookiee Shields First seen in Revenge of the Sith, the Klorri-clan battle shields are back—teardrop-shaped and wrapped in bronzium bands. Season 1 teased them, but Season 2 goes big with multiples on display. 3. Togruta Pot With a sculpted Togruta perched on top, this unique pot is the first of its kind seen in Star Wars. It's especially interesting for fans of Ahsoka Tano, since the Togruta are her people. 4. Kalikori From Star Wars Rebels , the Kalikori is a Twi'lek family heirloom, passed down and added to across generations. The one here might not be the Syndulla's, but it's just as meaningful. 5. Concept Mandalorian Helmet This isn't your standard Mando gear. This helmet nods to Ralph McQuarrie's early concept art for Boba Fett, and even recalls the Rako Hardeen design from The Clone Wars . It's a gorgeous tribute to Star Wars design evolution. 6. Royal Naboo Headdress That glimmering headdress is the same style Queen Amidala wore in The Phantom Menace . Regal, iconic, and subtly heartbreaking when you remember Padmé's fate. 7. Decorative Gungan Skull Equal parts beautiful and morbid, this aurodium-inlaid Gungan skull is covered in ancient symbols. A rare, ceremonial relic from a long-gone era. Season 1: 1. Amidala-Style Headpiece Tucked in the rear of the shop, this ornate headpiece nearly matches the one worn by Padmé in Attack of the Clones . A deep pull for prequel fans. 2. Mandalorian Armor Not just any armor—this is full-on shimmering display armor, gleaming under showroom lights, placed right next to the Amidala piece. A fascinating juxtaposition of cultures. 3. Jedi Temple Guard Mask Seen for the first time in live-action, this ivory-and-gold mask originally appeared in The Clone Wars . In Luthen's shop, it looks both sacred and ominous. 4. Sankara Stones Yes, those Sankara stones from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom . They're tucked away in the back room, one of several cheeky nods to Lucasfilm's other iconic universe. 5. Sith Holocron Hidden among the 'not-for-sale' dark side goods, this Holocron is a red flag for any Jedi. But in a shop like this, it's just another antique. 6. Starkiller's Dark Lord Helmet Straight from The Force Unleashed's dark side ending, this helmet sits in the shadows, part of a larger set of armor. A sly reference to a fan-favorite game. 7. Wookiee Helmet The traditional war helmet of Kashyyyk warriors, on full display. Alongside the shields, Luthen's clearly curated quite a collection of Wookiee history. 8. Gungan Shield These energy-screen shields made their debut in The Phantom Menace , but this one's the real deal—not CG. A practical prop with real-world weight. 9. World Between Worlds Tablet A deep cut from Rebels and Ahsoka , this mystical tablet is inspired by the realm that plays with time, space, and destiny. It's tucked by the left wall, waiting for someone who knows what they're looking at. 10. Carbonite Blocks A loving homage to Empire, but look closer: the subjects frozen inside aren't just smugglers. One's the fertility idol from Raiders of the Lost Ark . Another? An Engineer head from Prometheus . These blink-and-you'll-miss-them cameos are pure geek joy. Luthen Rael's shop may be a rebel front, but it's also one of the best Easter egg museums in Star Wars . The attention to detail isn't just about references, it's about world-building. These props remind us that the galaxy is ancient, layered, and brimming with stories we haven't even heard yet.
The Guardian
26-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Soul icon Irma Thomas on the Stones, segregation and survival: ‘Restaurants refused to serve us – we lived on sardines and crackers'
Irma Thomas greets me at the front door of the ranch house she shares with her husband and manager Emile Jackson. For a singer celebrated as the 'Soul Queen of New Orleans', I'm somewhat surprised her home isn't more, well, palatial. Graceland this isn't. Although Thomas, 84, has enjoyed hit records, Grammy awards, international tours, critical praise and the loyal devotion of her home city, she has never experienced the largesse that comes with sustained stardom. Instead, she has her health, a 50-year marriage, great-grandchildren and a stunning new album, Audience With the Queen, created with Galactic, the esteemed New Orleans electro-funkers. Thomas is one of the last of the best, an African American soul singer who, forged by gospel, overcame discrimination and a brutal music industry to achieve enduring greatness. She scored her first hit aged 18 in 1959 but never enjoyed the huge success of her contemporaries Aretha Franklin and Gladys Knight. No matter: everyone from the Rolling Stones to Otis Redding and Beverley Knight has sung her songs (and praises). Bonnie Raitt, now a close friend, says of Thomas, 'She's a legend. She's as good today as she was the day she came out of the church singing.' I mention to Thomas the praise that now trails her and she cocks an eyebrow and says: 'I guess it's nice people say such things while I'm still here.' Irma, I'm learning, isn't one for blandishments. That said, when I tell her Audience With the Queen is a stunning return after a 17-year absence she agrees. 'The guys in Galactic had been talking about doing an album with me for a while,' Thomas recalls, as we settle in a living room decorated with her many awards. 'I had to say: 'Listen, I am not getting any younger – let's do this!' And, to their credit, they made a really good job of it.' Indeed they did; Audience With the Queen blends electronic arrangements with Thomas's gospel-steeped vocal to create yet another feather in her crown. 'I'm finally getting my flowers. About time too.' Born Irma Lee in Ponchatoula, Louisiana, in 1941, she and her family shifted to New Orleans when she was an infant. 'I grew up in the city but, between age four and nine, I lived with my relatives, real country people. I used to help pick strawberries on my uncle's farm; I ate as many as I picked! That kind of upbringing has held me in good stead over the years.' Getting pregnant aged 14 curtailed Thomas's education and a shotgun marriage to her child's father quickly collapsed. Aged 15 she was a solo mother who worked as dishwasher. By the age of 18 she had remarried, given birth to two more children and become a waitress at the Pimlico club where Tommy Ridgely, a band leader who helped shape the city's R&B sound, held a residency. Thomas, never lacking in confidence, told Ridgely she was a better singer than his band's vocalist. He invited Thomas on stage to prove herself and she seized the opportunity. While the club's patrons applauded her, Thomas was fired for neglecting her job. Sensing greatness, Ridgley took her to Joe Ruffino at Ron Records. There she recorded the storming R&B tune Don't Mess With My Man, written by Dorothy LaBostrie, who had co-written Tutti Frutti for Little Richard. 'I'd gone from a dishwasher earning 50 cents a night, to a waitress on $5 a night, so when I was offered $50 a night to be a singer, I signed on!' Fronting Ridgley's band, Thomas worked one-nighters across the south and the eastern seaboard, playing the chitlin' circuit (the name given to a loose network of Black-owned clubs) and white college fraternity parties. It was a hard grind, made more difficult by segregation's privations and raucous audiences: one night a drunken student accidentally kicked Thomas's microphone, knocking out her front teeth. 'Segregation meant there were often no hotels we could stay in, so we'd drive four or five hours back to New Orleans,' she says. 'Restaurants wouldn't serve us, so we lived on sardines and crackers. That's the way things were.' Thomas isn't one to moan. Instead she speaks directly, refusing to suffer fools or tolerate dishonesty. Unhappy with her royalty payments, Thomas refused to continue recording for Ruffino. She would begin a working relationship with the famed pianist, songwriter and producer Allen Toussaint, and go on to sign for Imperial Records in Los Angeles, where she began recording with a crack team of session musicians and arrangers now celebrated collectively as the 'Wrecking Crew'. Her magnificent run of 45s included I Wish Somebody Would Care, a song Thomas wrote, which became her biggest US hit. 'I wrote that because my then husband really resented me pursuing my career as a singer and made things extremely difficult. I was on the verge of doing something that would have sent me to prison … instead, I left him.' She continued to pursue her career thanks in part to 'loving parents who did a lot of babysitting and a network of supportive women. Having children kept me grounded; I couldn't go out to party or take drugs because I had to get home to my kids.' In 1964, she recorded Anyone Who Knows What Love Is (Will Understand), a song co-written by the young Randy Newman. Its one of Thomas's most striking vocal performances, her mournful voice conveying an eerie beauty, yet it struggled to No 52 on the US Top 100. The British Invasion of the American charts was under way, with US pop radio now championing Anglo bands, many of whom were singing songs by Black American artists, rather than the originals. A case in point being when the Rolling Stones covered Time Is on My Side, the B-side of Anyone Who Knows What Love Is, only weeks after Thomas's version was released. The Stones' version is effective, although Jagger copied Irma's vocal, ad-libs and all, in its entirety – a pale imitation. 'I didn't mind the Stones recording the song,' says Thomas, 'what I did resent was when audiences would request I 'sing the Stones song'. Well, no thank you. So I stopped singing it.' A subsequent UK tour in 1966 was badly organised and saw Thomas lose 15lbs and her voice for three months. 'I had no one looking after things for me and found myself singing night after night – and some matinees – for around three weeks. I had a very basic British backing band and went everywhere in an old van. It was exhausting and debilitating. I was told by a voice doctor that if I ever wanted to sing again I couldn't speak for three months. So I didn't. Which was really difficult, especially when you have small children.' The 60s weren't swinging for Thomas. Instead her career went into freefall: dropped by Liberty Records, she forlornly sought work as a backing vocalist on LA recording sessions. Thomas settled in Oakland, California, got a job in a department store, singing only on weekends. 'Singing is my vocation,' Thomas says, 'but I was a mom first and needed to create a stable environment for my kids. And seeing them get an education encouraged me to go to night school. Later on I got a business diploma, which helped me negotiate contracts.' While she recorded for Chess and Atlantic Records, as well as working with maverick soul songwriter-producer Jerry 'Swamp Dogg' Williams Jr, her career was constantly sabotaged by music industry machinations. 'Music's a tough industry,' she says, 'especially if you won't sign whatever they put in front of you. I didn't want people to own me, so they called me 'difficult'. Well, maybe I am. Better that than being taken advantage of.' By the mid-70s, Thomas determined that New Orleans at least still appreciated its Soul Queen. Returning home led to marrying Emile Jackson – 'third time lucky', she says of the man who is still her husband today – and getting plenty of work. Her career rebirth began in 1983 when UK label Ace issued Time Is on My Side, a compilation of her 1961-64 singles. The album sold strongly and introduced Thomas to a new generation – British northern soul fans started to seek out the Lion's Den, a club she and Emile ran – while Jim Jarmusch chose Thomas's It's Raining to soundtrack Roberto Benigni and Nicoletta Braschi's affecting waltz in Down By Law. Then Scott Billington of Rounder Records, a Massachusetts label dedicated to American folk/roots music, approached Thomas about recording new material. From 1986 to 2008, Billington produced 10 albums that re-established Thomas as one of America's finest contemporary vocalists, and saved her from what she describes as 'a life singing It's Raining every night in a hotel bar'. Almost 20 years ago, Hurricane Katrina decimated much of New Orleans. Thomas and her husband were out of town when the hurricane hit, flooding their home and ruining the Lion's Den. Recorded mere months after Katrina, Thomas's 2006 album After the Rain won a Grammy. But, after 2008's majestic Simply Grand album, she again found herself without a record label, while the collapse of CD sales meant the music industry again declined to back a singer who was written off as 'old school'. 'I don't feel bitter about things,' says Thomas. 'I'm established, and I only sing when I want for the fee that Emile insists is right. If no one wanted a new Irma Thomas album so be it.' Galactic, who command a wide US audience, determined the world did want a new Irma Thomas album. 'I'm used to recording with musicians in the studio,' notes Thomas, 'while Galactic programme the beats and music then got me in to sing. A strange experience for me, but it worked. I never previously considered myself a protest singer but, things being the way they are, means I got to voice my displeasure.' Thomas is talking about Lady Liberty, a song where she sings: 'How long can history repeat itself, Lord we need some help / Time to shuffle these cards that we've been dealt and free ourselves.' Lady Liberty, I suggest, nails Trump's America. 'I don't even want to say his name,' she replies, her voice indignant. 'I grew up with segregation and now he and his people are trying to turn back time and ruin everything good about this nation. I am furious.' The 'flowers' she mentioned have been blooming in recent years: Anyone Who Knows What Love Is (Will Understand) became a recurring motif in Black Mirror, giving Thomas 90m streams and sparking interest in her back catalogue. 'The first thing I knew about it was when I got a phone call saying: 'Irma, there's a big cheque coming your way.' I ain't never heard of Black Mirror but I'm sure glad it exists.' There have been two documentaries about her life and an authorised biography will be published next year. Then at New Orleans' Jazzfest 2024 festival, headliners the Rolling Stones invited Thomas to join them on stage to perform Time Is on My Side. Watching the veteran Brits and the Soul Queen of New Orleans unite is a treat – Jagger tells the audience that the song they're about to perform was first sung by Thomas in 1964, then they trade off verses with aplomb. Were you happy as you look when singing with the Stones, I ask her. 'I was,' she says. 'Because Mick told the crowd that I did it first and they learned it from me. He gave me respect. That's all I ask for. I've been through a lot since 1964, so it felt good to get that kind of acknowledgment in front of their audience. Real good.' My audience with the queen is up: Thomas wants to have lunch with Emile, read the Bible, watch a gameshow and prepare for headlining the French Quarter festival the next day, performing with a voice that Raitt says is still as 'beautiful, sultry and powerful as it was on her first records'. On stage and off, time remains on Irma Thomas's side. Audience With the Queen is out now on Tchuop-Zilla Records. Garth Cartwright travelled to New Orleans as a guest of Explore Louisiana.
Yahoo
26-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
At the Crawfish Fest, all are welcome to rock (and we mean all)
One country, indivisible. That's what it says in The Pledge of Allegiance. But perhaps you've noticed that we're not so indivisible right now. Perhaps you've noticed that red states and blue states, North and South, are increasingly pitted against each other. In this tense climate, any hands-across-the-states gesture is significant. And for sheer fun, few can top Michael Arnone's Crawfish Fest — bringing a taste of Louisiana to New Jersey for 32 years. "The New Jersey audiences have always been great," said Marcia Ball, the honky-tonk piano virtuoso who is one of the headliners at this year's festival, May 31 and June 1 in Augusta, at the Sussex County Fairgrounds (she's appearing 1 p.m. Sunday on the Main Stage). Galactic (5 p.m. Saturday), Bonerama (2:45 Saturday), Rockin' Dopsie Jr. (3 p.m. Saturday), George Porter Jr. (3 p.m. Sunday), Terrance Simien (11:30 a.m. and 3:15 p.m. Sunday), John Cleary (5 p.m. Sunday) and New Jersey's own Ocean Avenue Stompers (1 p.m. Sunday) are among the other top acts that will be bringing the swampy sounds of the Bayou State to the marsh dwellers of North Jersey. "They've always been energetic and excellent in response to our music," Ball said. "We have a lot of friends up there, too, so it's always a pleasure to come. And we get to eat some crawfish! That's my favorite part." Crawfish — boiled, almost 10,000 pounds, imported direct from Louisiana — is the dish du jour, as the name of the festival implies. But there are plenty of others. Jambalaya. Shrimp, oyster and catfish po' boys. Grilled oysters. Grilled alligator sausage. Southern fried chicken. Red beans and rice (vegetarian). Crawfish Étouffée. Boudin sausage balls. Burgers, dogs and fries. And lots to drink — alcoholic and otherwise. If the weather holds, Arnone said, they expect between 15,000 and 18,000 people over the course of the weekend (campers, who stay on the grounds, get to see additional music on Friday and Saturday night). And the sounds are as tasty as the snacks. Louisiana, as is well known, has developed a unique musical menu. Zydeco — rock-and-roll with accordions — swamp funk, jazz, boogie and blues are all part of the mix. So are traditional Cajun waltzes, Second Line struts, and Afro-Cuban percussion. Music is one of Louisiana's prime exports — its stars travel the world bringing their specialties to audiences worldwide. But an event like this, that brings dozens of Louisiana artists together for an out-of-state reunion, is special. For a performer like Ball — she's played this gig before — it's old home week. "I remember when we used to come up to the Crawfish Festival and there would be vans and trailers parked all around the stage like a necklace," she said. "Steve Riley, Terrance Simien, Geno Delafose, Chubby Carrier, and more. It was a honky-tonk supershow." Ball — for those who haven't seen her — is a phenomenon. One of the best barrelhouse pianists in the business: Jerry Lee Lewis in a shift, with a voice that is pure country molasses. Her songs like "That's Enough of that Stuff" and "Let Me Play With Your Poodle" are rowdy enough to get any party going. Johnny Moeller (guitar), Michael Archer (bass), Mo Roberts (drums) and Eric Bernhardt (sax), her band, are all aces. She's touring all over the Northeast now, and plans to do another record over the summer. But she does worry, as she travels, about the state of the union at present. "I have some serious anxiety about what's going on in our country right now," she said. "I'm blue — in both ways." Perhaps part of what is needed is for all of us to start talking to each other again. That's a little service that Arnone, at his festival, offers free of charge. "At the Crawfish Fest, you're standing next to someone on line, and the next thing is, 'Where did you hear about it? Where are you from?' " Arnone said. "Music and food tie people together." He himself is from Baton Rouge: he came up to Jersey in the 1980s to work as an electrician. But he discovered that's a hunger here for the tastes and tunes of his home state. That's his jambalaya you'll be eating, by the way: a family recipe. He held his first Crawfish Fest — a relatively small affair — in 1989. He's been holding them ever since (with a few years off for COVID), and they've grown. But not too much. "We're a medium size festival and that's as big as we want to get," he said. The important thing is not the size, but the atittude. The traditional, convivial spirit of Louisiana might be just what we all need right now, he said. "We've always been that way," he said. "People can come to the shows, different races and different states, and everybody gets along. I don't ask people who they voted for when the come in. It doesn't matter. To each his own. You're here to have a good time. We're trying to get you to forget whatever else is happening in the world." Visit This article originally appeared on Crawfish Fest in Sussex NJ 2025: Louisiana tastes and tunes galore
Newsweek
02-05-2025
- Science
- Newsweek
Cosmic Broken 'Bone' Caused by Pulsar Hit-and-Run, NASA Satellite Reveals
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. The Milky Way has a broken "bone"—and it was caused by a collision with a pulsar, a rapidly rotating neutron star, speeding through it at some 1–2 million miles per hour. This is the diagnosis of a U.S.-based team of astronomers, led from Northwestern University, who studied the cosmic fracture in G359.13142-0.20005 (also known as "the Snake"), one of a number of enormous, elongated structures found near the center of our galaxy. Located in the constellation Sagittarius, some 26,000 light-years from the Earth, the Snake is a 230 light-year-long "Galactic Center Filament." The team examined the Snake not with a hospital X-ray machine, but NASA's Chandra X-ray observatory (as well as the MeerKAT radio array in South Africa). "We argue that the major kink is created by a fast-moving object punching into the Snake, distorting its magnetic structure, and producing X-ray emission," the researchers wrote in their paper. The fracture in "the Snake," one of the Milky Way's longest and brightest Galactic Center Filaments—and, inset, the pulsar believed responsible for the break. The fracture in "the Snake," one of the Milky Way's longest and brightest Galactic Center Filaments—and, inset, the pulsar believed responsible for the break. X-ray: NASA/CXC/Northwestern Univ./F. Yusef-Zadeh et al; Radio: NRF/SARAO/MeerKat; Image Processing: The Snake is one of the largest and brightest of all the Milky Way's Galactic Center Filaments. These bone-like structures, which can be seen in radio wave observations, are threaded by magnetic fields which they run parallel to. The radio emissions from these galactic bones are caused by energized particles spiraling along the magnetic fields. In the newly-released image—which includes X-ray data from Chandra in blue and radio data from MeerKAT in gray—the fracture can be clearly seen in the otherwise uninterrupted length of G359.13142-0.20005. Combining the Chandra and MeerKAT observations with data from the Very Large Array, a radio observatory in the Plains of San Agustin, Mexico, revealed a source of both radio waves and X-rays at the site of the fracture. In the inset, the pulsar that is likely responsible for these emissions is highlighted. Additional X-rays may be being emitted from the collision site by electrons and positrons that have been accelerated to high energies. Pulsars—like other neutron stars—are the dense remnants of massive stars that collapsed and went supernova. They can receive a powerful kick from these explosions, sending them careening through space at great speed. The astronomers believe that when the runaway pulsar smashed into the middle of the Snake, it distorted the filament's magnetic field, causing the resulting radio signal to be deformed as well. "A secondary kink is argued to be induced by the impact of the high-velocity object producing the major kink," the researchers wrote. Do you have a tip on a science story that Newsweek should be covering? Do you have a question about space? Let us know via science@ Reference Yusef-Zadeh, F., Zhao, J.-H., Arendt, R., Wardle, M., Heinke, C. O., Royster, M., Lang, C., & Michail, J. (2024). G359.13142-0.20005: A steep spectrum radio pulsar candidate with an X-ray counterpart running into the Galactic Centre Snake (G359.1-0.2). Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 530(1), 254–263.
New York Times
18-04-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
In Her New Single, Miley Cyrus Pretends It's Not ‘The End of the World'
Jon Pareles, the chief pop music critic for The New York Times, suggests five new songs to check out this weekend. The playlist features some lavish pop, some New Orleans grit and the return of a band he's been missing. Miley Cyrus, 'End of the World' Galactic and Irma Thomas, 'People' Stereolab, 'Aerial Troubles' Youssou N'Dour, 'Tout pour Briller' Ches Smith, Mary Halvorson, Liberty Ellman and Nick Dunston, 'Ready Beat' Jon Pareles is the chief pop music critic at The Times. Image Credit... Photo Illustration by The New York Times; Photo: Kevin Mazur/Peacock, via Getty Images The New York Times Audio app is home to journalism and storytelling, and provides news, depth and serendipity. If you haven't already, download it here — available to Times news subscribers on iOS — and sign up for our weekly newsletter.
