(Image: Disney)

The Battle of Yavin is the event Star Wars fans most commonly think of as the destruction of the first Death Star at the end of Episode IV. The Rebels concocted a risky plan to take out a much more powerful force. It was, through skill, courage, and a lot of luck, successful. The Empire faced a major setback in its plans as a result.

Hooray! And Jordan Freiman of Death and Taxes magazine joins you in the celebration. But he also argues that the Rebel Alliance demonstrated extraordinary stupidity in its battle plan.

The crux of his argument is that the famous trench run, which was modeled after a real-life bombing campaign by the Royal Air Force during World War II, was completely unnecessary. As Spock commented upon Khan's tactics in the Battle of the Mutara Nebula, it demonstrated two-dimensional thinking. Instead of flying down a long and dangerous trench toward the Death Star, the Rebel fighters should have flown directly at it, perpendicular to point of impact. Frieman explains:

Just because the exhaust port is at the end of the trench, that doesn’t mean you have to use the trench to get there. You have spaceships! And the exhaust port is facing upward! You even show it facing upward in your little diagram. Why not just fly straight down towards it? Flying through the trench makes everything more difficult. You have no room to maneuver and, more importantly, rather than hitting the port with a straight shot, you now have to angle the proton torpedoes to go straight and then curve down. That’s so much more difficult!

Also, you know how everyone groans when he says “the shaft is ray shielded, so you’ll have to use proton torpedoes.”? Why is everyone groaning? How would you even hit that thing with a laser if you’re approaching it from the side? USE YOUR HEADS!

If I remember correctly, the point of the trench run was to get so close to the surface of the Death Star that the space station's anti-ship weapons could not be brought to bear against it. The trench run began at the point closest to the Rebel fleet. Flying directly toward the exhaust port would have required the X-wing squadron to be exposed for a much longer time

Content warning: foul language.

-Thanks, Miss Cellania!

Japan's All Nippon Airways redecorated a Boeing 787 Dreamliner Star Wars-style to resemble our favorite droid, R2D2. Yesterday, it left Japan for the first time and landed in Singapore, where Reuters got to photograph the inside. Yes, the interior is just as Star Warsy, with luxury first-class seats that look like R2D2. The flight attendants even wear those colors! See the images at Mashable. All Nippon Airways, in conjunction with Lucasfilm, has plans for three other Star Wars planes. -via Uproxx

(Image credit: Edgar Su/Reuters/Landov)

First little kids started embracing the dark and brutal sounds of metal, and now seniors are out to prove you're never too old to melt faces, with one 67-year-old Canadian mother leading the charge.

She calls herself The Grindmother, and she is supporting her son's musical career in the coolest way possible- by laying down some Grindcore vocals.

(YouTube Link)

Her son's band Corrupt Leaders allowed her to break into the Grindcore scene, but nowadays The Grindmother is striking out on her own, selling her solo track "Any Cost" on her Bandcamp page with more songs to come soon.

(YouTube Link)

Now that's my kind of retirement!

-Via Dangerous Minds

The stories found in video games can be long and complicated, like a series of novels being played out in real time, or short and sweet, like a punch to the face of a dastardly street tough.

But, no matter the length of the game or depth of storyline, all video games can be succinctly described in a Tweet, meaning they can be summed up in 140 characters or less.

Whether classic or modern, with a story that changed your life or simply full of mind numbing button mashing fun, it's usually pretty easy to describe why we like our favorite games.

But coming up with a way to describe them in 140 characters or less without cheating might take a few playthroughs.

See 37 Video Games Summarized In 140 Characters Or Less at Cracked (contains NSFW language)

There are some movie series that just won’t give up no matter what. In most, the first movie is the best. In a few, the second movie stands out. After that, it’s all diminishing returns unless your name is Bond, Pixar, or Harrison Ford. That brings up the question: Did anyone actually go to the theater to see Terminator: Genysis? No matter, if you didn’t, you can get your fill with the Honest Trailer.

(YouTube link)

See, even if you watched the whole movie, you wouldn’t understand it any better. Besides, it’s so dark that I had trouble finding a screenshot we can actually see. -via Geeks Are Sexy

We better stop with all the jokes about Leia becoming a Disney Princess since Disney bought Lucasfilm. The token female character from the original trilogy has undergone quite a transformation in the thirty years timeline between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens. Those around her no longer call her “Princess.”

“She’s referred to as General,” says director and co-writer J.J. Abrams. “But … there’s a moment in the movie where a character sort of slips and calls her ‘Princess.’”

Okay, so almost no one calls her that anymore. You’ll have to imagine who slips — and how it goes over.

Well, that’s one way to get out of being a Disney Princess, although military service didn’t work that way for Mulan. Maybe her new rank had something to do with the discontinuance of merchandise with the slave Leia bikini. After all, that’s an unseemly look for a general. As it was for a senator. And a princess. -via Uproxx

Now that Fallout 4 has officially been released gamers are gearing up for a long nuclear winter at home with the latest installment, but before the release vault dwellers had to find an outlet for their post-apocalyptic dreams.

(Vault Boy Perler Bead Plaque by Tasha Lazaravich)

Some took to cosplay, others simply played an earlier installment until they'd seen all the wasteland has to offer, but then there are those who brightened up this dreary world with their craftiness.

(Railway Rifle Replica by Jason Walton)

They are the ones who make the cool Fallout themed stuff we find so SPECIAL, the craft gods who are willing to share their knowledge with us in hopes of saving humanity from the forces of boredom.

(Papercraft Fallout 3 Minigun by Pepakura Designer user Gardian)

Those who wish to join the Brotherhood of Builders should peruse Make:'s super mutant sized collection of 111 Far-Out Fallout Fan Builds, where they'll find something better to do with their hands than simply twiddling their thumbs!

BlizzCon is the celebration of all things Blizzard, a convention dedicated to the impact Blizzard Entertainment has had on the gaming industry, especially with their MMORPG World Of Warcraft.

Each year a horde of hardcore Blizzfans descend upon a convention center in Anaheim and chill with their fellow fans IRL while they're AFK, and as you'd expect many of the attendees like to cosplay at the event.

Cosplayers craft their BlizzCon costumes with extra care, knowing they'll be hearing about their costumes from both Guildies and their rivals online until they up the ante, or redeem themselves, at next year's BlizzCon.

(all images via John Jiao Photography)

See more from BlizzCon Has Some Truly Excellent Cosplay here

Most urban legends begin with a true story, and as the story is then modified, reinterpreted and exaggerated the fantastic fictionalized "truth" starts to overshadow the dark truth at the heart of the tale.

The tale of a killer hiding out in the attic of a house for weeks before murdering the inhabitants sounds like a work of horror fiction, but this incident actually occurred on the Hinterkaifeck farm in Germany back in 1922.

While the tale of a murderer hiding out for weeks may sound far fetched the mere idea of someone dying as a result of receiving an atomic wedgie seems like pure schoolyard fantasy.

But once again the tale is true, only the poor boy was a 58-year-old man who received an atomic wedgie from his drunk stepson, and he was choked to death by the underwear's elastic waistband.

Read 9 Unbelievable Urban Legends (That Happen To Be True) at Cracked (Contains NSFW language)

(Video Link)

Jonathan H. Liu recently watched Star Wars with his kids. His toddler, who is 2 and a half, really enjoyed it--especially the Imperial March, which is also known as the Darth Vader theme. After she went to bed for a nap, the cutest little Sith began singing that piece of music.

Here she is with a captured piece of Rebel equipment. At Geek Dad, Liu explains that his daughter is fascinated with Darth Vader:

When he first appeared on the screen, she started mimicking the sound of his breathing. When the Imperial March started playing, she stood up and danced! Lately she keeps asking us to sing the “Star Wars song”–sometimes she means the theme song, but quite often what she really wants to hear is Darth Vader’s theme instead.

She has chosen her path wisely.

-via Huffington Post

Michael Palin and Terry Gilliam's masterpiece Time Bandits is one of those movies I loved as a kid even though I didn't totally get the film, and just like the kids who attended the test screening I liked one part the most- "the parents being blown up!".

Nearly three and a half decades later I've seen Time Bandits dozens of times and still find something to love with every new viewing, and I appreciate the amazing performances now more than ever.

(YouTube Link)

The Time Bandits themselves are played by little people with huge personalities, so it's easy to see how their roles could be inspired by their real life attitudes.

But Ralph Richardson's personality changed a bit as he played The Supreme Being, a role he took so seriously that he submitted his own red ink edits complete with message "God wouldn't say that". 

(YouTube Link)

There were more than enough talented actors cast in Time Bandits, but none proved more important to the final look of the film than Sean Connery.

He helped guide Gilliam's directing on the first day of shooting, and he came up with that fun bit at the end where he plays the firefighter. Is there anything Sean Connery can't do?

Read 15 Fun Facts About "Time Bandits" at mental_floss

Bill Nye is undoubtedly the science guy, and he'll forever be known for his scientifically stupendous TV show that introduced many young minds to the might of science, but he's not really known for being a badass.

I mean that in the very best way possible, of course, because he's a man of science and truly has no need to go around blowing up cars or punching people into submission like a stereotypical badass.

But Redditor Chipper_chap wanted to see how badass Bill Nye could become with a little help from Photoshop, so he started a PsBattle by posting the pic above entitled "Perplexed Bill Nye".

Soon that hard bitten science man was walking down all kinds of dark roads, setting science aside long enough to star in far bloodier TV shows and record a gangsta rap album.

See more of Bill Nye Photoshopped guy here

One thing all cinematic time travelers have in common is that they are thoroughly surprised by what they see when they get to the future. Not all futuristic movies have time travelers; some are just set in the future. In those cases, we, the audience, are the time travelers, and we are usually quite surprised by the film’s vision of the future.

(YouTube link)

The latest movie supercut from Robert Jones looks to the future (even when it’s technically now in the past), with clips from dozens of movies. The future is quite variable, from hi-tech (2001: A Space Oddysey) to apocalyptic (Planet of the Apes) to ridiculous (Idiocracy). How many of them have you seen? -Thanks, Robert!

The movies:

Back to the Future 2
Lost in Space
I, Robot
A.I. - Artifical Intelligence
Cloud Atlas
Idiocracy
Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure
Hot Tub Time Machine 2
The Fifth Element
Click
Death Race 2000 (1975)
Barbarella
Judge Dredd (1995)
Forbidden Planet
Blade Runner
A Clockwork Orange
Tomorrowland
The Terminator
The Time Machine (2002)
2001: A Space Odyssey
Metropolis
Johnny Mnemonic
Minority Report
The Ice Pirates
Total Recall (1990)
Her
Fahrenheit 451
Logan's Run
The Running Man
Demolition Man
Bicentennial Man
Starship Troopers
Snowpiercer
Prometheus
Oblivion
Elysium
Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)
Star Trek: First Contact
The Time Machine (1960)
Planet of the Apes (1968)
Battlefield Earth
Tank Girl
Spaceballs
12 Monkeys

It's easy to believe that every new movie is made out of footage shot solely for the film, especially big budget movies like Transformers: Dark Of The Moon, Star Trek: Generations and Star Wars: Attack Of The Clones.

But even big budget blockbuster movies like these can contain recycled footage, thrown in to save time, reduce cost or help finish off the filmmaker's vision.

(YouTube Link)

Screen Rant revealed six famous films that incorporated recycled footage into their final cut, and if you can look past a typo that dubs Kubrick's classic film "The Shinning" you'll discover how Hollywood serves up a rehashed scene.

-Via Laughing Squid

Godzilla has racked up a massive body count over the years, even though we don't actually see most of his kills on film, and yet most would consider Jason Voorhees to be a more prolific killer.

But when the fate of his human prey is in jeopardy, can Jason Voorhees kill the seemingly unkillable king of kaiju Godzilla?

Adult Swim's totally spectacular stop motion animation supershow Robot Chicken attempted to answer this question with a stop motion quickie called Godzilla Vs. Jason. (Contains NSFW language)

(YouTube Link)

Did your guy take the gore gold in the end, or did your killer insticts prove to be a bit off?

-Via GeekTyrant