Showing posts with label boots. Show all posts
Showing posts with label boots. Show all posts

Sunday, February 07, 2010

Wet weekend photo roundup

#272
My Andorian boots purchased via the "It's a Wrap!" eBay auctions.
Originally worn by screen extra Chase Bandy in "Star Trek: Enterprise",
and customized from GBX boots.
6 February 2010.

#273
A bend in The Road. 7 February 2010.

Monday, January 19, 2009

Back to Andor - boots 'n' all

The post office's parcel courier van arrived in my driveway bright and early this morning and I assumed it was my latest batch of "Star Trek" action figures, but no... it was a package all the way from Andor, via eBay!

A few weeks ago, I noticed some Andorian Imperial Guard uniform boots up for auction, as part of the It's a Wrap! eBay auctions (of "Star Trek" props, costumes and set pieces from Paramount's soundstages and warehouses), which have continued running for longer than any fan could have imagined. I've been very cautious about peeking at the auctions. eBay is soooo addictive. I'd already won the Andorian ambassador's outfit from "Enterprise" in 2007, as regular readers of this blog would know - and I did buy myself some very cool farmed-crocodile skin boots to go with it, but now I know how Andorians prevent their robes from trailing on the ground... they simply wear very, very tall boots!

Look what I won last month, and which just arrived:

Andorian boots from Enterprise

They are purposely lightly "weathered" with grey paint, but otherwise are almost-new, commercially-available, leather boots. The big gamble was that the auction description omitted a size. They looked rather tiny. A tag inside each boot indicate that they were worn by one Chase Bandy, whom the Internet tells me has also been a stand-in on a Topher Grace movie, "Win a Date With Tad Hamilton!", has played a minor recurring character in TV's "Days of Our Lives" - and once attended the 2005 Hollywood celebrity gala premiere of "The Headhunter", at least long enough to be photographed by one M. Castner.

Chase Bandy
Chase Bandy,
up and coming Hollywood spunk?


Now that the boots are here, I can see that they are GBX brand boots. As they'd appeared online, and even when pulling them out of the box and bubblewrap, I was convinced they were quite small. Imagine my surprise when they had US size "10.5" marked inside! It's an optical illusion caused by the huge soles, I guess. Even placing my foot alongside the boots, there was no way I was going to be able to wear them, but... they are a perfect fit!

Chase Bandy's Andorian boots
No, I didn't blue my legs just for the occasion, Sorry.

Shran action figurewhiteCloseup Andorian boot
Art Asylum did a good rendition of the Andorian boots on their Shran action figure.


By wonderful coincidence, I also won some Andorian medical dressings, in a different auction lot, the same week, and the items arrived together. The bandage pads have Andorian script screenprinted onto them, and were probably created for the episode featuring the destruction of Shran's ship, the Kumari. Lots of gravely injured Andorians in that one. (Was Chase Bandy one of them?)

I guess the bandages will be perfect for my heels if my new Andorian boots cause some big blue blisters!

Andorian medical dressings

Sunday, July 01, 2007

Brazilian banquet, Vanguard euphoria, Cookie Puffs - and new boots to boot!

What a fun, full weekend! (Full in more ways than one.)

Even though the trains were out (for trackwork, between Blacktown and Strathfield) I made my way into the city last night to join some friends for the amazing Brazilian Churrasco Banquet at A Taste of Brazil in Pyrmont. Yummo! (And unique garlic bread rolls, made with a mayonnaise filling.) Oh wow!

I stayed overnight at Nate's for a marathon of early "Star Trek: The Next Generation" episodes, although after all the Merlot at dinner, we all dozed through most of them, usually waking in time to see end credits flashing by for each episode.

This morning we had brunch at one of Nate's favourite breakfast cafes, and then I ventured off alone into the city where I finally located, at Politix, the most amazing grey farmed-crocodile-skin zip boots to go with my newly-arrived, screen-used Andorian costume. (I knew I'd seen them somewhere, but the last few weeks of looking around was drawing a blank.) The boots were $100 off and really look wonderful. Now I can't wait to organise a proper full-dress photo shoot. (After I find someone to help me put the boots on when the skin-tight Andorian leggings won't permit bending, that is!)

On the bus-and-train home from the city, I finished reading David Mack's "Star Trek: Vanguard" novel, "Reap the Whirlwind". A lot of fun, but because I've been rather busy, I've had to read it in numerous one-hour chunks over many weeks now.

I was caught by surprise as I'd completely forgotten the author had put a Minipedia in the back - I'd restrained myself from reading it when I bought the book - so about three pages before the end of the narrative, the book flicked open to reveal that I was really only three pages from the end of the current story! (Reminds me of the good ol' days when some ST novels had a surprise excerpt of an upcoming "giant" Star Trek mass market paperback in the back.)

I'd also accidentally seen comments on TrekBBS about big surprises at the end, so I'd avoided all the details and responses. While reading this morning, all the details started being revealed, and I was very pleased.

The series has great characters who are revealing their complexities over each instalment; [i]two[/i] Caitians, at least three Andorians in this one - how cool is that? And journalist Tim Pennington continues to be a great character, redeeming himself over previous indiscretions.

Fan writer/editor (and New Zealander) Lana Pennington-Brown is a very good friend of mine (and is the Pennington the "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" writers had in mind when they made canonical reference to the Pennington School in the TV series), so even though Tim started out in "Vanguard: Harbinger" as an untrustworthy love rat, he's already becoming a better man than he used to be (as he mentioned himself in the chapters of "Reap the Whirlwind" I read today), and so I enjoy rooting for one of Lana's descendants. Makes the "Vanguard" novels even more fun!

I'm off now to read up on all the online posts about the book before I delve into a new "Tale of the Lost Era", "Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Buried Age" by Christopher L Bennett.

And, to celebrate my "Vanguard" euphoria...: I discovered today that Puffy Cookie Puffs have released a new flavour: chocolate Cookie Puffs! They are to die for! (Or is that "to diet for"?)

Cookie Puff
Puffy Cookie Puffs: now available with chocolate filling!


And, according to the official website, caramel cookie puff filling is due soon.