Watch George Lucas and Star Wars characters in 1987 Japanese Panasonic TV commercials

The original Star Wars was famously imagined as modern mythology—taking these established tropes of other genres and applying them to a space opera. In a way, the idea of "tropes" is similar to the original definition of a meme as defined by Richard Dawkins in The Selfish Gene, which was first published just a year… READ THE REST

Mayfield, Bill Burr's recurring character on The Mandalorian, is an ex-stormtrooper-turned-mercenary with a heart of gold. Based on the character's accent, he is also inexplicably from the Boston area—an eyebrow-raising detail, considering the story's setting a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. Fortunately, Bill Burr explained this curious character choice in a… READ THE REST

Good against remotes is one thing. Good against the living, that's something else. READ THE REST

Gathering notes off various web pages across the web feels like it should be a simple process. Just scoot through your assorted pages, copy the text, graphics, images, and other elements that you want, paste them into your notes and you're all set. Of course, anybody who's ever actually tried to take notes online is… READ THE REST

If you're a coffee-lover, specifically, a lover of espresso, then you already know that picking up an espresso machine is not cheap. Those machines pressurize boiling water, then fire it at finely ground coffee beans for a richer, more caffeine-fueled result than your normal drip-brewed coffee. That specialization is why many won't pay for a… READ THE REST

Even if you're never broken out in a cold sweat at the thought of having to complete a problem, know this – math anxiety is 100% real. And we aren't just talking about 7-year-olds who suffer from stomach aches driven by their fear of math class. Turns out, even the anxiety of teachers who have… READ THE REST