Annoying, this incessant media coverage is.

Allright. It’s here. Finally. You know what I’m talking about, so let’s just keep moving.

Trying as best we can, CU aims to transcend the typical Star Wars hype-a-thon with the following links:

* Sports Illustrated looks at how the sports world and the Star Wars universe match up. Pairings of note include Darth Vader/Barry Bonds, Emperor Palpatine/George Steinbrenner and Chewbacca/Johnny Damon. I can’t believe they missed Jabba the Hut and this poor mo-fo.

* The NY Times on the recent politicization of Episode III. Plus, their complete coverage with old-school reviews and traliers from the original pics. See previous CU post about the political parallels of Emperor Palpatine and W.

* The “Are You a Star Wars Geek?” quiz. I was too scared to take it.

* Star Wars Asciimation. For the Star Wars/computer geek combo-loser. I’ve actually done this before. [wince]

* The Lego Trilogy. Say no more. Except that I wish I’d thought of this first.

* And, quite possibly, the most embarrasing moment ever captured on video and uploaded onto the internet for countless millions to watch, point and laugh: The Star Wars Kid. Kinda like when I used to jump around the house knocking over table lamps with half-assed roundhouse kicks after seeing The Karate Kid for the first time. Only cooler.

* Some notable Yoda quotes. A CU favorite:

“Happens to every guy sometimes this does”

Oh yeah. And Natalie Portman rocks. Neal’s even liked her since she had short hair back-in-the-day. Too bad she was 13.

And not that you can still find tickets, but here’s some local movie times and reviews. Surprisingly, the flick seems to be generally approved of, except Anthony Lane at The New Yorker, who tore it a new black hole.