Irvin Kershner, the director of Empire Strikes Back (and camp classic The Eyes of Laura Mars), has died after a long illness. He was 87 and will be missed far more than the Ewoks or Jar Jar Binks.

We recommend that you immediately clear the next ten or so minutes of your schedule, for Kubrick-auditioning, extreme-overacting internet sensation Brian Atene has once again creatively spread-eagled himself on the YouTubes, unselfconsciously sharing his exposed Art with us all. We foolishly believed that it would be impossible to top his Planet of the Apes-themed holiday wish for the destruction of all humans, but his latest effort, a nearly nine-minute, improvised monologue evoking exactly what it would have felt like to be on the set of The Empire Strikes Back, represents a new, utterly exhilarating achievement in the craft of crazy.
We'll see you on the other side, after you're changed forever.