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It's no secret that George Lucas' original vision for "Star Wars" was heavily influenced by Japanese cinema, specifically the samurai, or chanbara, sword-fighting films of his youth. "Seven Samurai" and, of course, Akira Kurosawa's "Hidden Fortress" were direct inspirations for "A New Hope" and the misadventures of C-3Po and R2-D2. Any student who has studied martial arts will also be able to see a direct link between the ancient techniques of Japanese swordsmanship and the fighting style of Jedi Knights throughout the entire saga. Beginning with the classic duel between Obi-Wan and Darth Vader aboard the Death Star, the original film's stunt coordinator Peter Diamond incorporated the basic strikes, parries, and blocks that are taught in kendo. Even the concept of balancing one's internal Qi ("chi") energy became the foundation for the Force. 

The bridge between the martial arts world and the "Star Wars" galaxy has been...

With the 2021 Summer Games just weeks away, the NBC Olympics team is full steam ahead.

The network announced on Thursday that veteran broadcasters Mary Carillo, Andrea Joyce and Jimmy Roberts will once again serve as NBC Olympics commentators this summer in Tokyo. The Opening Ceremony of the 2021 Games is Friday, July 23 on NBC.

Including this summer’s Tokyo Games, the trio will have worked at nearly 50 Olympics. Carillo and Roberts will serve as correspondents in Tokyo, while Joyce serves as a reporter at the gymnastics competition and handles play-by-play for rhythmic gymnastics. Carillo will also call tennis and open-water swimming.

Tokyo marks Mary Carillo’s 15th Olympic assignment. Since the 2008 Games, she has covered the people, culture and history of each host country. A two-time Peabody winner, Carillo served as a correspondent for the 2014 Sochi Olympics and was the host and interviewer for a retrospective documentary on Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding.

Vienna-based award-winning illustrator Peter Diamond recently released these beautiful alternative book covers for Richard Adams’ classic Watership Down, produced under license from Nepenthe Productions. The release consists of two editions: the Ni-Frith (Sun Regular) version is a 9 colour 18×35 screenprint from an edition of 150 and is available now from the Black Dragon Press shop.

The Fu Inlé (Moon Variant) version is a 9 colour 18×35 screenprint with metallics from an edition of only 50. As it is, a low run went on sale March 12th.

Peter Diamond had this to say about the prints:

“When I read Watership Down some years ago I already had dim, bloody memories of the 1978 animated adaptation, so I wasn’t shocked by the violence in the book as I expect many were who read it unprepared. But what I hadn’t expected was the thick, dark vein of fear that runs through the story from the very beginning.