FIRST. Hey! It’s John Kerry!

Thanks to Topless Robot’s 10 Star Wars Toys that Unintentionally Look Like Other Celebrities. Also featuring Mon Mothma/Laura Bush and Dengar/Johnny Cash!

SECOND. I have played more Star Wars videogames than anyone should ever admit. I’ll be the first to note that with two exceptions, they almost always suck. Hard. Like, really hard. No. Really.

That said, I’m totally geeking out over this summer’s Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, in which you get all sorts of crazy-ass Jedi powers.

I mention it here because Vanity Fair has an excellent story about the game and its development. The story also delves into the current state of gaming in general—which means it’s not only worth a read for big ol’ geeks like me, but also for anyone curious about these vidyagame tapes the kids these days can’t seem to get enough of. So yes, it is recommended reading, and it is here. A quick excerpt:

In many cases, [LucasArts’] employees themselves are byproducts of the influence of Star Wars: writers, designers, animators, and artists who, as kids and teens, were wowed by the movies and decided that they, too, wanted to create science-fiction and fantasy characters and visuals that were as fully formed and plausible as those that Lucas had put on movie screens. But instead of lining up behind the crowds jockeying to get into film school, these future storytellers chose as their canvas the much younger and more interactive medium of video games, a medium that increasingly overlaps with filmmaking—artistically, technically, and in terms of storytelling technique—but that also has its own rules, philosophies, and cultural touchstones.

Thanks to Kotaku for the heads up about that. (Also, who the hell is Lucas paying off at Vanity Fair? Between this feature and their Indiana Jones story, it’s a regular LucasFilm love-in over there.)