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The Lightsabre Interview Bonnie Burton
Welcome to
Lightsabre. Our latest guest is a
lady with a multitude of talents. Not
only is she deeply involved in the day-to-day running of the official sites
for both Star Wars and Q - Bonnie, welcome
to Lightsabre. A -
Thanks for interviewing me! It's an honor! Q – Tell us something
of your career. Where did you begin
with your writing and what led you to where you are today? A - Wow, that's a big question. I started out as a
freelance journalist, mostly writing about internet culture and the like for
various magazines like The net, Yahoo Internet Life and Wired. At the same
time I was an editor at various sites such as eWorld,
@Home Network (which later became Excite@Home), and
Winamp.com. I was also working on my own site
Grrl.com which included an
online journal (pre-blogging era). Eventually I
worked with another writer on my first book which was an anthology and
interviews with some of the first bloggers online.
The book was called "Never Threaten to Eat Your Coworkers:
Best of Blogs (Apress). Q – What is it like
to be a part of the Star Wars phenomenon? A- It's both humbling and exciting at the same time. I
grew up with Star Wars and Indiana Jones, but not in a million years did I
ever think that George Lucas would be my boss. Granted, there's
about 7 people between us, and it's not like I have my morning coffee with
him. But to know that I'm a Lucasfilm employee in a job I love makes getting
out of bed every morning that much easier. I'd have to say the fans are a
huge part of my passion for my job. Whether it's seeing a little girl dressed
as Princess Leia at a convention, or watching those
awesome 501st stormtroopers in full gear at a
charity event, it's the fans that make it all worth it. It puts things in
perspective and really pushes me to do the best I can. Q – You’ve worn so
many hats in your career and covered a mass of topics, but are most closely
associated with Star Wars. Does that
please you, or is that sometimes a hinderance? A – Well if you chat
with my longtime friends, they might tell you it's
a hinderance. I used to talk about one of my favorite icons Bettie Page, or about a great comic book I
just finished, or about the latest episode of some horrible reality TV show I
was hooked on, but now I seem to mostly talk sci-fi and Star Wars. Even after
being with the company for 4 years, I'm not close to being burnt out on the
subject at all. Though my friends are. In fact, I believe there's a no-Lucas
zone around them at parties and such, so I can't just dive into geek speak
like I usually do. It's easy to get entrenched in the whole Star Wars
lifestyle and history. But I've been trying to branch out into other genres
and franchises if I can muster the strength. Luckily I'm a big fan of "
Q – You can draw Star
Wars was released in January of 2007, with brilliant art by Tom Hodges and
friend of the site Matt Busch.
Inspiring young children to draw is something that Star Wars has been
doing since 1977, so how much pleasure did it give you to be able to bring
that together into an official book? A –
It was probably one of the biggest
goals I had when I started working on starwars.com. I really wanted to revamp
the kids section and have more "off-line" activities available for
kids. As much as I'm a computer junkie, I still love DIY activities like
crafts and drawing, and I know most kids do too. So I decided to start asking
some of our licensed Star Wars artists if they would be interested in
contributing online tutorials on how to draw their favorite
Star Wars characters and vehicles in their own signature drawing styles, and
to my relief they did. And all the artists did such an amazing job, that I
decided to bug Lucas Books to let me put together the ultimate drawing book
for fans -- something both kids and adults could learn something from -- and
that's how You Can Draw: Star Wars came about. Q – You have a
fascination for 1950’s model Betty Page.
Why, apart from your physical likeness, are you so attracted to her
and what did you think of the 2006 movie about her life? A – I've always admired people who have the tenacity
to follow their dreams no matter how unattainable it might seem at the time.
Bettie Page grew up poor in the rural South, under really depressing
circumstances with an unstable home life. But she managed to get her act
together, move to I think "The
Notorious Bettie Page" movie did a decent job covering her life, but I
suppose I would have liked to know more about the normal parts of Bettie's
life and not just the scandalous side. At one point I remember that Marty Scorcese was planning to do a movie on her life, with Liv Tyler as the lead, which would have been interesting
to see another director give his take on her life. Q – What were your
feelings on Revenge of the Sith? Did
it satisfy your fan appetite, or simply whet it for more adventures to come? A – Ya know, writing a film to please all Star Wars fans
is impossible. I really enjoyed the film, and I think there was enough inside
jokes and little clues to keep hardcore fans happy, while still being
entertained by the overall story arc. My favorite
will always be A New Hope but that's mainly because it's so
wrapped up with my childhood at a time when I had the most fun as a kid.
Q – With the release
of A – It's too early to
say what kinds of fun stuff will be in store on Indianajones.com, but all i can say is that if you're a fan, keep your eyes peeled
for some entertaining online content. We'll also have news and info about the
upcoming film on starwars.com too. So stay tuned! Q – Which of the
myriad Star Wars characters do you feel the most affinity for? A – I'll always love the droids most. R2-D2 may be the
smartest and cleverest of the droids, but I think I love Gonk
the Power Droid the most. It can't be easy for a
droid that looks like a trash can to get any respect. But I secretly like to
pretend that Gonk was the mastermind behind R2-D2
getting bought by Uncle Owen. And of course, being one of the few fans of the
Star Wars Holiday Special, I will always admire Ackmena. Bea Arthur was
excellent as the cantina bar mistress, and I can understand why she
captivated every alien that walked into that place. She can serve me a cup of
jawa juice any day. Q – Tell us more of your other interests outside of Star Wars? A – I'm a big DIY
craft kid. That's one of the reasons I started a craft section on
starwars.com in the kids area. But when I'm not making mouse droid cat toys
or Yoda felt dolls for the site, I'm deconstructing t-shirts and making
squishy trees from sweaters. I also love taxidermy. I don't have the stomach
to do it myself, but I like to collect oddball pieces. I even have a jackalope at my desk. I also have a big nerdy crush on
Sherlock Holmes. I read all the stories and can't get enough of the Jeremy
Brett version of Holmes from Granada Television.
Q – You have managed to speak to a multitude of Star Wars
musicians who are also huge Star Wars fans, including British bands ASH, The
Darkness and Snow Patrol. For these
guys it must be hugely exciting to be talking about their passion for Star
Wars instead of their music, so just how much fun is it to get these people
talking? A
- Before I started at Lucasfilm,
I was a VJ for a local music video show. So I've
always enjoyed interviewing musicians. The research was fulfilling and the
actual interview -- most often on live TV -- was quite a thrill. So I just
took that same excitement and put a twist on it by talking to bands and celebs about their love for Star Wars. Most often than
not, people will just start chatting away about the first time they saw Star
Wars in a theater, or their first Star Wars toys,
or debates they still have with their friends. Ironically, a lot of musicians
you might think would give canned, typical responses end up sounding more
like history professors. They talk on and on about Lucas' affinity for the
"Power of Myth" or discuss political and socio-economic motifs I
never contemplated. But you also have quite a few funny moments. Almost all
the celebs and bands have had their collections sold
by their parents when they went away from home the first time. And they all
have bad Star Wars costume memories of their moms making them Darth Vader and
Luke Skywalker outfits from bathrobes and hockey helmets. It's all good fun.
And quite frankly I started the article series so fans could come out of the
Star Wars closet so to speak, when they realized that their icons love Star
Wars as much as they do. Q - What lies ahead
for you in the future? A – I have a couple of non-Star Wars books in the works
and hopefully a screenplay I want to get off the ground. I'm also starting to
write for a great new magazine called
GEEK Monthly for fun. They just published their Star Wars issue that I helped with, but I
look forward to writing about other geeky topics like about Sherlock Holmes
Societies and steampunk artists.
Q – A quick question
about our site, Lightsabre. Any
comments? A – If I come to Celebration Europe, will you all hang
out with me? I've never been to Q - It's been a great
interview, and thanks for being our guest on Lightsabre. Just one final question. Princess Leia,
Betty Page and Ackmena are entered into a bikini
contest. Leia
has on her classic metal bikini and Betty her classic bikini arrangement, but
what would Ackmena be wearing? And when the contest is marked, which one
wins? A – Well Bettie Page could wear a paper sack and she'd
still win. If it was a talent
show however, I'd put my money on Ackmena. And if it was a card
game, like poker or Texas Hold Em, it would go to Leia. Leia just looks like she'd be good at bluffing. |
