Remember how I said that Arizona was one stunning looking fair? I took pics of the best looking booths for inspiration. If you want to see what Rennie Paradise looks like, here you go:
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Amazing
If you haven't seen this ad yet, do it now. Yes, its for a shoe. But that doesn't matter because its really just a very short but very powerful movie.
I listened to hundreds of hours of Opera back when I was a butler and can identify quite a lot of it. But actual operas are really quite long and often boring. I'm sure they were the Lord of the Rings extended edition DVD's of their time. I'll take an aria here and an overture there but not an entire opera. That doesn't mean that this music isn't simply amazing, and when joined with these visuals the results are no less emotional than a full length movie. I actually wept when I saw this commercial. The story is told without words as they are unnecessary. Everything is there. You understand the emotions, motivations and pain of every face on the screen.
Nike has a history of making some kick ass commercials, such as the Demon Smiting Nike ad some years ago. Yes, it's as ad, but that doesn't mean it ain't art. If you doubt me, go check out the BMW short film series 'The Hire'. (sadly, only available on youtube instead of high quality video) They were actually better than several films that came out the same year. After one particularly aweful film I forced my friends to watch these films and they agreed that the films were better than what we had just seen (check out Powderkeg, its the best).
p.s. The song is Lacrimosa from Mozarts Requiem
I listened to hundreds of hours of Opera back when I was a butler and can identify quite a lot of it. But actual operas are really quite long and often boring. I'm sure they were the Lord of the Rings extended edition DVD's of their time. I'll take an aria here and an overture there but not an entire opera. That doesn't mean that this music isn't simply amazing, and when joined with these visuals the results are no less emotional than a full length movie. I actually wept when I saw this commercial. The story is told without words as they are unnecessary. Everything is there. You understand the emotions, motivations and pain of every face on the screen.
Nike has a history of making some kick ass commercials, such as the Demon Smiting Nike ad some years ago. Yes, it's as ad, but that doesn't mean it ain't art. If you doubt me, go check out the BMW short film series 'The Hire'. (sadly, only available on youtube instead of high quality video) They were actually better than several films that came out the same year. After one particularly aweful film I forced my friends to watch these films and they agreed that the films were better than what we had just seen (check out Powderkeg, its the best).
p.s. The song is Lacrimosa from Mozarts Requiem
Home again, home again...
Managed to pull the show out of the fire with some last minute sales. I enjoyed the warm Arizona days but it was time to go. The wind was kicking up and dust began once again to settle on everything. You constantly felt gritty. We packed up everything, handed our stock to the SCA UPS person praying that it would get delivered to a UPS store (UPS doesn't pick up at the site for some reason) and headed out.
On the way to the airport for our Midnight flight we visited the Arizona Ren Fair. Man, I work in a freakin ghetto. A slum. Ohio Ren? Great Lakes? They just can't hold a candle to this show. I need to get in there. Amazing grounds, stunning booths. Alas, we couldn't stay long as there was a road closed and we had to take a lengthy detour and did'nt want to risk getting lost.
Home now, safe but sick. Hack! wheeeeze.
On the way to the airport for our Midnight flight we visited the Arizona Ren Fair. Man, I work in a freakin ghetto. A slum. Ohio Ren? Great Lakes? They just can't hold a candle to this show. I need to get in there. Amazing grounds, stunning booths. Alas, we couldn't stay long as there was a road closed and we had to take a lengthy detour and did'nt want to risk getting lost.
Home now, safe but sick. Hack! wheeeeze.
Sunday, February 18, 2007
Brutal
Midnight Madness today. 15 hours straight for so so sales. At least the night is warm. Tomorow we'll open for a few hours and try to pry a few last minute sales. Then we pack it all up. We don't fly out till midnight but it will still be a busy day tomorrow.
This show can do better, we just need to be in a better spot.
In some ways this event feels more period. Unlike Pennsic there is no barn, no Coopers house or other modern buildings in the merchant area. When I walked along the dusty roads today among the tents I could have been wandering the tent souks and markets a thousand years ago.
Sunday, February 11, 2007
The mother of invention...
We're flying out soon and the last minute packing is almost done. Fly out shows are a bear. Weight is the enemy. Get the weight down while still taking enough to do the show. I ordered a heavy duty corset rack and will have it shipped right to the site. I plan on selling it after the event at a slight loss.
Then there were the 2 lightweight racks we use for skirts and shirts. I hadn't looked at them since last summer and when I did I found 1 piece of plastic missing, effectively making one rack useless. I went to buy another one at WalMart but it's no longer carried. The new cheapie racks suck. So it's off to the hardware store. Some copper tubing and a few conectors, about 20 minutes in the shop with a saw and a torch and the upgrade is complete. Didn't even set myself on fire. I added about 35 inches to the rack. Larger rack, fewer parts and everything will fit into the luggage.
I yearn for warmth.
My Clever plan....or not.
It seems that I now possess THREE pirate ships. Horay! That's a small fleet. Wohoo!
But wait, we seem to have a problem. These are a fairly low end radio controlled device, and as such, they all seem to operate on the same frequency, with no ability to select alternative frequencies. These ships won't fight so much as perform synchronised water ballet. Crap!
So now I need to crack one of them open to see if the chip that determines the ships control frequency can be swapped out. Any one here have a friend that knows about RC toys?
But wait, we seem to have a problem. These are a fairly low end radio controlled device, and as such, they all seem to operate on the same frequency, with no ability to select alternative frequencies. These ships won't fight so much as perform synchronised water ballet. Crap!
So now I need to crack one of them open to see if the chip that determines the ships control frequency can be swapped out. Any one here have a friend that knows about RC toys?
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
Ahoy! I needs a name!
My new Pirate ship needs a name! Can you help?
(When Rossana's arrives it already has a name "The Crimson Bitch Goddess")
Leave your ideas in the comments section.
(When Rossana's arrives it already has a name "The Crimson Bitch Goddess")
Leave your ideas in the comments section.
Monday, February 05, 2007
Happy B-day to meeeeeee!
I am now officially somewhere about midway in this life journey thing. 39. This halfway point is of course based on things like statistics and science. I put little stock in these things.
The turnout for my party Saturday might be considered light, I myself consider it amazing considering that is was the most brutally cold day I have experienced in some years. I received several calls from friends letting me know that although they wished to attend, they did not possess the requisite treaded arctic snow crawlers or dog sled teams required to slog to Bag End in the midst of a blizzard. I understand completely and thank those who braved the horrible weather.
As can be seen from this picture I indeed received my much desired Pirate Ship and am told that another one is on its way from jolly old England. With two of these ships I shall rule the seven seas (or at least my pond). Now all I have to do is patiently wait several months for it to thaw....
Is it spring yet?
In attendance was Grimm, who is recovering well after having a large chunk of gut removed. Apparently some internal organ had gone rogue and was fighting a guerrilla war on his other organs, One surgical strike and the problem was taken care of. This did not stop me from trying to be helpful by scanning said gut for any surgical items that may have been left behind. Alas, nothing showed up so our chances of cashing in on some heavy litigation are almost nil.
Oh and my friend Ed has shown up my cool pirate ship by going and accidentally buying himself a Porshe on ebay. I am not sure how once 'accidentally' buys a speeding ticket machine such as this, you may want to take a gander at the blog he set up to document his own midlife crisis:
http://midlifecrisiscar.blogspot.com/
Much cake and pie was consumed, and on Sunday we went to the Home and garden show to look at things we can't afford. All in all, a very good weekend. Cheers all and thanks for the gifts.
The turnout for my party Saturday might be considered light, I myself consider it amazing considering that is was the most brutally cold day I have experienced in some years. I received several calls from friends letting me know that although they wished to attend, they did not possess the requisite treaded arctic snow crawlers or dog sled teams required to slog to Bag End in the midst of a blizzard. I understand completely and thank those who braved the horrible weather.
As can be seen from this picture I indeed received my much desired Pirate Ship and am told that another one is on its way from jolly old England. With two of these ships I shall rule the seven seas (or at least my pond). Now all I have to do is patiently wait several months for it to thaw....
Is it spring yet?
In attendance was Grimm, who is recovering well after having a large chunk of gut removed. Apparently some internal organ had gone rogue and was fighting a guerrilla war on his other organs, One surgical strike and the problem was taken care of. This did not stop me from trying to be helpful by scanning said gut for any surgical items that may have been left behind. Alas, nothing showed up so our chances of cashing in on some heavy litigation are almost nil.
Oh and my friend Ed has shown up my cool pirate ship by going and accidentally buying himself a Porshe on ebay. I am not sure how once 'accidentally' buys a speeding ticket machine such as this, you may want to take a gander at the blog he set up to document his own midlife crisis:
http://midlifecrisiscar.blogspot.com/
Much cake and pie was consumed, and on Sunday we went to the Home and garden show to look at things we can't afford. All in all, a very good weekend. Cheers all and thanks for the gifts.
Thursday, February 01, 2007
Films
This has been a pretty damn good year for movies. I would highly recommend you direct your eyeballs to the following films if you can. If not in the theater, as the Gods intended us to see movies, then on DVD:
And now a tangent...
I watched Man on Fire last night and am still convinced that it is one of the best damn vengance films ever made. It's right up there with Tombstone in its sheer badassness. It came out at about the same time as The Punisher and although the punnisher tried to be hardcore, it failed miserably. It was standard action-film fare with stock bad guys and lots of explosions and gunplay blah blah.
Man on Fire takes place in Mexico City and feels real. It's shot in oversaturated colors with characters that are interresting, flawed and very himan. Denzel is great as a former military operative who drinks excessively and is obviously haunted by his past (although they thankfully do not give us the standard flashback scenes). Tony Scott, the director is guilty of over and undercranking the camera a bit much, and is guilty of using Opera (Pagliachi) in a scene where it was not needed. But it doesn't take away from the overall story. The soundtrack is awesome. Go rent this and tell me I'm wromg. Best vengance film ever.
- Smokin' Aces - Its violent but its well done violence. Some great characters.
- Perfume - A wonderful period piece about a nasal savant. This film was a rich tapestry of filth. Great to watch and not predictable.
- Children of Men - Gritty dystopia fare that looks more like a documentary.
- Pan's Labyrinth - Wonderful and dark. A true old school fairy tale.
And now a tangent...
I watched Man on Fire last night and am still convinced that it is one of the best damn vengance films ever made. It's right up there with Tombstone in its sheer badassness. It came out at about the same time as The Punisher and although the punnisher tried to be hardcore, it failed miserably. It was standard action-film fare with stock bad guys and lots of explosions and gunplay blah blah.
Man on Fire takes place in Mexico City and feels real. It's shot in oversaturated colors with characters that are interresting, flawed and very himan. Denzel is great as a former military operative who drinks excessively and is obviously haunted by his past (although they thankfully do not give us the standard flashback scenes). Tony Scott, the director is guilty of over and undercranking the camera a bit much, and is guilty of using Opera (Pagliachi) in a scene where it was not needed. But it doesn't take away from the overall story. The soundtrack is awesome. Go rent this and tell me I'm wromg. Best vengance film ever.
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Sheer Joy
You should go and view this short called "The Grandfather of Soul". I'm not going to tell you anything about it. It's short and very sweet. Pass the link on to your friends.
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Oh yeah, this will end well...
Ok folks, its time for another installment of 'The Danger Show - with Grimm and Steve'. What are these two kooky kids up to today? Well, they've decided to built a ballista. That's right, these brain surgeons are going to use tools, to make a weapon. It's a danger trifecta!
We began with a well written set of directions and blueprints we obtained off the interweb. These plans were promptly ignored by Grimm, who has in typical fashion, completely redesigned the project in his brain.
Things got off to a good start when Grimm informed me that the prod (the bow shaped thing that makes the big arrows go zoom) did not look good enough, and would have to be cut down. Now, because of the spring like nature of this piece of steel, it cannot be subjected to heat. This would ruin the tempter. The solution? Hose down the prod as we use an electric circular saw to cut the prod.
I am not making this up. If you click HERE you will see the larger image, labelled accordingly:
1. The Hose
2. The Saw
3. The electric cord
4. Glasses. Subject to fogging and debris
5. Grimm's mind
I'll upload some video to youtube later. It was fun, if you consider getting soaked to the skin in ice water while risking electrocution fun. But somehow, we managed not to injure ourselves. We only got half the prod done before the cold forced us indoors for fresh socks. We began the body of the weapon, which looks pretty good. To be fair, Grimm did the lions share of the hard work work this first session. I alternated between flinching and trying not to pee myself. To feel productive I've started stripping a pair of Amish wheels Grimm 'obtained' which will be used to move the weapon once its done. I am fairly sure that using Amish wagon wheels as part of a Medieval siege weapons is a fairly straight path to Hell.
We began with a well written set of directions and blueprints we obtained off the interweb. These plans were promptly ignored by Grimm, who has in typical fashion, completely redesigned the project in his brain.
Things got off to a good start when Grimm informed me that the prod (the bow shaped thing that makes the big arrows go zoom) did not look good enough, and would have to be cut down. Now, because of the spring like nature of this piece of steel, it cannot be subjected to heat. This would ruin the tempter. The solution? Hose down the prod as we use an electric circular saw to cut the prod.
I am not making this up. If you click HERE you will see the larger image, labelled accordingly:
1. The Hose
2. The Saw
3. The electric cord
4. Glasses. Subject to fogging and debris
5. Grimm's mind
I'll upload some video to youtube later. It was fun, if you consider getting soaked to the skin in ice water while risking electrocution fun. But somehow, we managed not to injure ourselves. We only got half the prod done before the cold forced us indoors for fresh socks. We began the body of the weapon, which looks pretty good. To be fair, Grimm did the lions share of the hard work work this first session. I alternated between flinching and trying not to pee myself. To feel productive I've started stripping a pair of Amish wheels Grimm 'obtained' which will be used to move the weapon once its done. I am fairly sure that using Amish wagon wheels as part of a Medieval siege weapons is a fairly straight path to Hell.
Friday, January 26, 2007
Shocking the Monkey
One could say that I eclectic tastes in music. My ipod is a strange mishmash of different artists from Beethoven to Jay-Z. Dead Can Dance, Jonny Cash, Devo and the most disturbing of artists Richard Cheese
. I am willing to listen to just about any music but jangly jazz and twangy country. I'll give anything a try. You never know what you'll find. Most recently I discovered Nerdcore artist MC Frontalot, take a listen. If you are a geek or a nerd, you might like it.
Peter Gabriel has been a favorite of mine since high school. I remember with almost crystal clarity the day a guy who was an AV tech for the school handed me a cassette maked "Gabriel-Live". I put it in the player and was absolutely blown away by his live version of
'The Rhythem of the Heat'. It was so good that I simply played it over and over again, ignoring the rest of this great album for about a week. Remember, this is back before the Internets. No downloading MP3's or checking the artists blog. One of the first music purchases I ever made was Runny Window on cassette. My first CD purchase? Peter Gabriel Plays Live
. I still own it, all scratched to hell. I lent it to a friend who went into the Army. It took three years of bugging him to get it back, but I got it.
Flash forward to today. Peter Gabriel releases the original source tracks for his famous 'Shock the Monkey
' and asks people to remix it as part of a contest. People go crazy, coming up with all kinds of different versions. The winning version is pretty sweet. Take a listen. What are you listening to?
. I am willing to listen to just about any music but jangly jazz and twangy country. I'll give anything a try. You never know what you'll find. Most recently I discovered Nerdcore artist MC Frontalot, take a listen. If you are a geek or a nerd, you might like it.Peter Gabriel has been a favorite of mine since high school. I remember with almost crystal clarity the day a guy who was an AV tech for the school handed me a cassette maked "Gabriel-Live". I put it in the player and was absolutely blown away by his live version of
'The Rhythem of the Heat'. It was so good that I simply played it over and over again, ignoring the rest of this great album for about a week. Remember, this is back before the Internets. No downloading MP3's or checking the artists blog. One of the first music purchases I ever made was Runny Window on cassette. My first CD purchase? Peter Gabriel Plays Live
. I still own it, all scratched to hell. I lent it to a friend who went into the Army. It took three years of bugging him to get it back, but I got it.Flash forward to today. Peter Gabriel releases the original source tracks for his famous 'Shock the Monkey
' and asks people to remix it as part of a contest. People go crazy, coming up with all kinds of different versions. The winning version is pretty sweet. Take a listen. What are you listening to?
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
What I've been up to
My recent fascination with Steampunk has led me to dream of several outlandish projects. It is a genre ripe for the picking. Not limited by actual science but more by aesthetics and cool factor I have been gripped by a kind of artistic fever that is composed of rivets, gears and polished brass..
As such, I have created The Clockwork Rifle. It is based loosely on the classic Kentucky rifle with a few notable exceptions. There is no pan or striker. Also, I have added a sniper scope.
This is my first effort and is mostly just a prototype. I carved the rifle stock by hand using a draw knife and a lot of sanding. The barrel is grey PVC. Lots of clock bits. The brass flourishes on the side are cut down cabinet hinges, the brass bands are a thin art brass It was a time consuming process as I wanted the parts I used to look like they fit together. I'm not completely happy yet. I still need a trigger guard and possibly a flip out hand crank for winding the 'main spring' that would power such a weapon. This stock is two pieces but I intend to use a much nicer single piece of wood for the next one.
In doing research for this project I discovered that air rifles, that is, actual air powered rifles that could be used for hunting, were in limited production in the 1700's. Lewis and Clark brought one along, mostly to impress the natives.
Comments and criticisms of this project are eagerly sought.
As such, I have created The Clockwork Rifle. It is based loosely on the classic Kentucky rifle with a few notable exceptions. There is no pan or striker. Also, I have added a sniper scope.
This is my first effort and is mostly just a prototype. I carved the rifle stock by hand using a draw knife and a lot of sanding. The barrel is grey PVC. Lots of clock bits. The brass flourishes on the side are cut down cabinet hinges, the brass bands are a thin art brass It was a time consuming process as I wanted the parts I used to look like they fit together. I'm not completely happy yet. I still need a trigger guard and possibly a flip out hand crank for winding the 'main spring' that would power such a weapon. This stock is two pieces but I intend to use a much nicer single piece of wood for the next one.
In doing research for this project I discovered that air rifles, that is, actual air powered rifles that could be used for hunting, were in limited production in the 1700's. Lewis and Clark brought one along, mostly to impress the natives.
Comments and criticisms of this project are eagerly sought.
Why can't I use my powers for evil?
It should be ME who bought a 20 foot tall hydraulic dragon that belches smoke and six animatronic trees, not some embezzling hack. Sigh.
It will be mine...
I was doing some research on youtube when I came across a great video of a radio control pirate ship. I have been dreaming of such a thing ever since moving to Bag End. I mean, I have a big pond, and although my original plan of building a full scale pirate ship in said pond did not pan out I could still have 2 ships duke it out. If only such cool toys existed. A google search even a year ago yielded nothing, but thanks to this great little video I found a very cool site: iwantoneofthose.com
Their motto? "Stuff you don't need...but really, really want."
It's like they can read my mind, man.
Check the video and pop over to the site for the toys. These pirate ships are only about $60 delivered. And hey, isn't you birthday coming up Steve? Why yes, I think it is. What a coincidence.
Their motto? "Stuff you don't need...but really, really want."
It's like they can read my mind, man.
Check the video and pop over to the site for the toys. These pirate ships are only about $60 delivered. And hey, isn't you birthday coming up Steve? Why yes, I think it is. What a coincidence.
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