Out of more than 107,900 tweets, I’ve only left out a word in one of them, so of course that was the one that Luke Skywalker himself noticed and replied to. Begging for a birthday tweet from Cher, I added a sarcastic quip about Mark Hamill, who I hoped would be as cool as he appears to be on Twitter, and indeed he was. Hamill has been a hero to me ever since going sleeveless in ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ and awakening an entire generation of gay boys to their true calling. In recent years, I’ve hung on his every tweet, as his account makes wry political commentary as much as it provides entertaining and uplifting ideas.
Behind it all, the man himself seemed especially good-natured and noble, and if anyone has gained the insight and wisdom to be at such peace, it’s the guy who has portrayed one of pop culture’s most enduring and endearing heroes. While the whole world knows him as Skywalker, the keen and coolest among us know that Hamill has steadily worked and created other indelible characters, much of them through some amazing voice work. In the most recent Star Wars movies, he has been introduced to a new generation of fans, and rekindled the love of all of us who first fell all those many decades ago. Today it is my honor and privilege to give him the small gift I have to give, and name him as the Dazzler of the Day. Check out his Twitter feed here for more majestic evidence of his brilliance.
