Category Archives: Outings

Chicago Force Collector’s Club to meet June 22

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On Sunday, June 22, at 4:30 P.M., come out to Graham Crackers Comics in Wheaton for the inaugural meeting of Chicago Force’s Collector’s Club. The club is designed to facilitate a collector’s exchange by providing a venue for face-to-face interaction. Members will be able to help fulfill each other’s wish lists. For those who aren’t that heavy into collecting, we’ll also have lots of fun and games. For more information, check out this FanForce forum thread.

For our first meeting, we are asking that you bring in your favorite collectible (or a photograph) and discuss why it’s your favorite and how you obtained it. Graham Crackers is located at 1207 Butterfield Road in Wheaton. If you have any questions, send an e-mail to Carrie Favela (Jedi Autobot). For the latest information on Chicago Force events, visit either www.chicagoforce.org or our FanForce forum.

Chicago Force Book Club and Lakefront Picnic

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On Saturday, June 28 join Chicago Force for its monthly Errant Venture book club meeting, followed by our annual Lakefront Picnic.

At 1:00 P.M., we’ll discuss I, Jedi by Michael Stackpole at the Borders on State Street. In this first-person novel, Corran Horn searches for his wife in this story that takes place concurrently with The Jedi Academy Trilogy. If you have any questions, send an e-mail to guest moderator Carrie Favela (Jedi Autobot). Borders is at 150 N. State Street.

At approximately 3:00 P.M., we’ll proceed to Millennium Park as we have our annual Lakefront Picnic. It’s a potluck affair, so please bring something to share with the group. Please RSVP and post what dish you’ll be bringing in this FanForce forum thread. Souls who are brave enough can grab something at Taste of Chicago which is a few blocks away. Those who don’t want to deal with the crowds can just come to the park. Millennium Park is located east of Michigan Avenue, between Washington and Madison Streets. If you have any questions about the picnic, send an e-mail to David Gray (Bosh Talk).

For the latest information on Chicago Force events, visit www.chicagoforce.org or our FanForce forum.

Chicago Bulls Game

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Looks like the Bulls hit a nerve at LFL. When we arrived at the United Center, we were told that even though 20th Century had approved the CharitaBULLS screening, LFL had not, and that they had sent a Cease & Desist order to the Bulls hit idea on having the charity screening.

The staff for the Bulls was incredibly nice to us and the costumers spent a couple of hours before the game, walking the corridor and talking to everyone who would listen, taking pictures with people, etc. It was, as predicted, a huge hit. If we had been able to sell tickets, we probably could have sold out both showings and started working on a third. They allowed us to watch the game from a press box at the top of the stadium, and many people stayed around for the entire game.

So it looks like as long as LFL has the Bulls hit with this block, we can’t do anything towards the charity screening. The Bulls said they would fight it, so stay tuned for updates.

Chicago Force RPG Event!

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On Friday, April 18 at 7:30 P.M., Chicago Force’s RPG group will meet at the Edgewater home of Hans Aeschbacher (TheExecutor). There we will embark on an adventure taking place 2 years before A New Hope. The lives of the leaders of the Rebellion are in danger. It will be up to our intrepid band of travelers to spoil this evil plot.

No previous experience in role playing is required. All necessary supplies will be provided. If you plan to attend, please send an e-mail to either Michael Hammer(Master_Daylan) or Hans. For the latest information on Chicago Force events, visit www.chicagoforce.org or our FanForce message boards.

Chicago Force says farewell to AOTC on IMAX

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Five months after its huge debut, Attack of the Clones: The IMAX Experience is leaving Navy Pier IMAX. On Friday, April 4, Chicago Force will gather during its final weekend. We’ll meet at the box office at 8:30 P.M. for the 9:30 P.M. showing. If you’ve never seen AOTC in the IMAX format, you owe it to yourself to see it on their 60-foot-tall screen with 11,000 watts of sound. Look for the Chicago Force t-shirts. Afterward, we’ll head to Dick’s Last Resort to toast its departure.

Navy Pier IMAX is at 700 E. Grand St., Suite 115. Tickets can be bought at the box office or at www.imax.com/chicago. Since there is only one showing of Attack of the Clones that evening, we strongly encourage you to buy your ticket in advance. Dick’s Last Resort is at 435 E. Illinois. Check out www.dickslastresort.com for more info. We’ll be there at approximately 11:45 P.M. For the latest information on Chicago Force events, visit www.ChicagoForce.org. Talk about this event at this thread in our FanForce forum.

Whirylball makes its CF debut

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March 16, 2003 marked the first-ever Chicago Force Whirlyball outing. You say you have never played whirlyball? Well, neither had we.

Whirlyball starts with those plastic scoops you played with as a kid. You know, the ones where you would scoop up a ball and fling it at someone. They would try and catch it with their scoop and fling it back at you. OK, now add a court and basketball-style goals. Now put everyone in bumper cars. That is Whirlyball.

If you didn’t make it out, you missed quite an event. Everyone had a blast, and we played with the abandon of those who have no idea what they are doing and know they look silly, but don’t care because, well, everyone else looked silly too.

Chicago Force Costuming Event

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“Who’s your tailor? I love that outfit!”

On Saturday, March 1 at noon, Chicago Force presents the debut of our Costume Club. The first project will be making Jedi outer robes and will be held at the Mokena home of Phyllis Schulte (Schph Gochi). If you plan to attend, you will need to bring a pattern, fabric (washed and dried), a 300-yard spool of all-purpose thread the same color as the fabric, straight pins, and scissors. For more detailed information on these items, please see this FanForce forum thread.

You will need to RSVP for this event by sending an e-mail to Heather Ast (Darth Jurist) by Thursday night. For the latest information on Chicago Force events, visit www.chicagoforce.org or stop by our Fan Force Forum.

Chicago Force views AOTC on the big screen…and we mean big!

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In November 2002, “Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones” was released nationwide in IMAX theaters. IMAX film is a high-definition format, where the film is literally twice as big as the film used in normal theaters (70mm instead of 35mm). The result is a picture that is bigger, sharper, and more colorful than is found in regular theaters.

As “Attack of the Clones” was the first movie to be filmed, processed, and distributed entirely on a digital format, it presented the IMAX theaters with a unique opportunity to create a 70mm film print that was far superior to anything they had done before. Although they had to remove 23 minutes of film to fit the picture on the projectors, the two hours of movie they were able to convert was truly amazing. Most people who viewed the movie on the 6-story Navy Pier screen knew they were in for a treat as soon as they saw the 20th Century logo.

Navy Pier IMAX was very generous in donating 150 tickets to Chicago Force for an 8 AM showing on the morning of release. Chicago Force in turn donated 80 of our tickets to the Metropolitan Boys Academy, to let some children see the movie that may otherwise not been able to.

It’s not easy getting people out to a movie at 8 o’clock on a Friday morning, but by the time Obi-Wan and Anakin were assigned to protect Senator Amidala, the theater was mostly full.

Here are picture from the first midnight show, and the 8 AM show the next morning: