Well, my role in the Star Wars Kid saga is finally over. FedEx reports that Ghyslain’s iPod was delivered and signed for. (Here’s a photo of the iPod and a letter I wrote. Also included was a printout of everyone who donated.) The Canadian taxes have been billed to my newly-formed FedEx account, and the Futureshop gift certificates have been ordered.

Here’s the final breakdown. (All amounts are in U.S. dollars.) There was $3,254.09 donated, after refunds and Paypal fees (more info). After tax, the Apple 30GB iPod was $534.76. FedEx International shipping for the iPod was $83.37, and Canadian sales tax was $35.67. In all, $653.80 for the iPod, leaving $2600.29 in leftover donations. Using today’s exchange rate, this amounts to $3,610.50 in Canadian dollars. I bought eighteen $200 gift cards from Futureshop’s online store, and they’ll be shipped tomorrow via UPS. That leaves $7.56 in U.S. dollars, which I’ll likely spend on a couple pints of cold, delicious beer.

A huge thanks to everyone who donated. With luck, we’ll hear back from Ghyslain once the dust has settled.

In other Star Wars Kid news, there seems to be a growing movement to get Star Wars Kid into Episode III. There’s a popular petition started by Fred Quimby of Jedimaster.net, the best place to find SWK-related videos. Even the Lucasfilm crew supports the idea… TheForce.net reported that the official Lucasfilm webcam showed the Episode III makeup crew watching the Star Wars Kid video and holding up a sign saying, “Ghyslain 4 Episode 3.? C’est possible, non?”

July 17, 2003: Just when you thought it was over… Journalist Bruno Guglielminetti has learned that Ghyslain’s family has filed a lawsuit against four students and their parents. They’re seeking CN$225,000 in damages. Bruno will be interviewing the lawyer again tomorrow, which will be posted on the Radio Canada weblog. Here’s a new article from the Globe and Mail with tons of new information about the lawsuit and the kids who put the video online.

In anticipation of the upcoming release of Half-Life 2, Valve Software has made Half-Life (one of the finest games of all time) available for free, via their new Steam client, a “broadband delivery platform” for simply distributing games and their updates. Also included is Counter-Strike, the most popular multiplayer game online, and Opposing Force, the Half-Life expansion pack with an alternate but parallel storyline to Half-Life.

You can download the Steam client from their site, which will soon be distributing exclusive media and updates for Half-Life 2. (Did I mention that Half-Life 2 may very well revolutionize the videogame industry, and I’m nearly peeing my pants in anticipation?)

Inspired by the recent wave of Disney attractions adapted into full-length films, here’s an exclusive look at the next three movies in the series.

Someone should make a moblogging site where users can post celebrity sighting photos from their phone or PDA, along with a brief description of where they’re posting from.

The closest I could find was this NYC-specific SMS group, which seems to be focused on text messages instead of photoblogging.

July 9, 2003: Joe pointed me to TextAmerica, a site that allows anyone to create a mobile photoblog (“mophos” or “moblogs”), so I created a new one for Celeb Sightings. Anyone can post to it by e-mailing their photos to [email protected] from their mobile phone. Get to it, people!

August 12, 2003: Buzznet.com has a celebrity moblogging page that people are actively using. Lyle Lovett, Janet Jackson, Jay Leno, and Randy Newman are some of the current highlights.

From Alan Murray’s Capitol Reports column:

“The highlight of last night’s party was a spoof video by Rep. Mary Bono, wife of the late Sonny Bono, and Billy Tauzin, House Commerce Committee chairman, who said they were ‘auditioning’ for Hilary’s job. They sang an Eminem-style song called ‘Piracy, Bad.’ Tauzin said he liked to download Sonny and Cher songs; Bono said, ‘I like the royalties.'”

If anyone knows where to find a copy of this duet, please send it along. I have to hear it. I added the lyrics below.

July 30, 2003: The transcript of the entire video is online at the video production studio’s website.

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