HOLLYWOOD KNIGHTS

My wife — who is not officially a princess, but whose biological father I believe was the real Darth Vader — and I were sitting on the couch flipping between “The X-Files” and “The Osbournes” when we came across a piece on “Entertainment Tonight” about the diehard fans lining up outside Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood to be the first to see “Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones.”

“What's all that about?” she asked, pointing to the TV and knocking my “Lord of the Rings” cup out of my hands, spilling Snapple and Reese's Pieces all over my Spider-Man pajamas. Thinking it absurd, I called Corey Levin, one of the line organizers, and asked, “What's all that about?”

I thought it might be about the bragging rights that come with being first to see the movie. It wasn't. I thought Levin and his group might be on the lunatic fringe and were succumbing to a cinematic obsession. They weren't. I thought it might be about getting publicity for the organizers' Web site (www.liningup.com). It wasn't. I thought it was mostly about raising money for the Starlight Children's Foundation. That was important, but not the force that brought them there.

“It's about being part of a community,” Levin said. “I made at least a dozen really good friends in the ‘Episode I’ line, and here I would say I have added a few to that collection.”

Anywhere from five to 40 enthusiasts from a galaxy mostly just blocks away were in line at the same time, coming and going as their real lives allowed in order to clock the minimum 60 hours required to join the line for tickets for the May 16 premiere.

With fans rotating in and out, the organizers' focus was on logistics, coordination and keeping peace with the surrounding business community. But contrary to highbrow opinion, the fans really do have lives, and subsequently communications became key to making the experience more practical and endurable.

So Levin and company had their local provider bring a DSL line to the network interface unit on the outside of one of the local businesses. The group ran a cable out to a wireless router, and the force of e-mail and Web browsing was with them.

“People could be online while they were in line,” Levin said. “And the best part was, we could update the Web site from the line. Being able to communicate all day was a great help.”

“See, honey,” I said after relaying Corey Levin's response, “It's all about communicating.”

“Shhhhh,” she said, firing up a smoke with her Russell Crowe cigarette lighter and pulling her “Fried Green Tomatoes” comforter over her Minnie Mouse socks. “Ozzy's back on. And besides, don't you think that's a bit much?”