DIY Easter, BYO Allen key

Have a great Easter!

I am Wheaton!

Twice this month, when I've checked my bag at Galaxy Bookshop's front counter, and received my check token, I've been... Wil Wheaton!

Invasion of the dodos

It might be extinct as a species, but there's certainly no shortage of dodos here this week! Above is a 2D scan of my Nimslo 3D shot, taken in January 1984, of a real dodo skeleton in the Natural History Museum of the Smithsonian Institute in Washington DC. I finally got around to scanning it. My newer scanner has difficulty interpreting the lenticular laminate on my 3D photos, but the old scanner handles it well.

But these are some recent arrivals, after a bout of dodo madness on eBay:


Dodos from "Primeval" (by Character Options) and Safari


A Harmony Kingdom dodo keepsake box

The Ettamogah bunyip!

In December 1985, there was only a wildlife sanctuary and a souvenir shop at Table Top, aka Ettamogah, namesake of the famous Australasian Post "Ettamogah Pub" cartoons by Ken Maynard. These days, there is an actual replica of the comic strips' gravity-defying pub (and replicas in other tourist locales) - but prior to that you could sometimes catch a glimpse of a real live bunyip, that was kept in a special pen at the wildlife sanctuary.

The display was "out of order" the day I visited. Supposedly, if you lifted a flap, the bunyip would rise up out of his muddy swamp and squirt water at you. I hoisted my camera over the fence to snap this rare shot.

Nostalgia in 3D, in 2D

The shooting model of the starship USS Enterprise from "Star Trek" the original series. These pictures were taken in January 1984, at the Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institute, Washington DC, USA. I used my Nimslo 3D camera, but these are 2D scans, of course. (This is also pre the controversial restoration the model underwent in 1992.)

2D scans of old Nimslo 3D photos!

With Rhonda Williams, California. Christmas in USA, 1983.


"The Wizard of Oz" wax figures at Movieland Wax Museum, January 1984.
The museum used to be opposite Knott's Berry Farm in Los Angeles, USA.


Our award-winning costumes from the gala premiere night of "Ghostbusters", 1984.

The signs on our backs read "Rent-a-Ghost". I'm holding a red fly-swat, but included in our winners' goodie bag was... an official logo "Ghostbusters" ghost-swatter.


"Cometcon Blankety Blanks" (1986) with guest panelists, T'Pring, Spock and a Peoplebuster.

Nuggets of nostalgia

In the 70s, "Gold Rush" bubble gum, in little, plain calico bags, was popular. The bags contained yellowish-gold "nuggets" of bubble gum. I still keep a small coin collection in one. Above is the original US box art of "Gold Rush" bubble gum (as posted on the Universal Monster Army BBS by Hepcat). I think the gum was distributed in Australia by Scanlons.



When revived a decade or so later, the cute, little, calico bag was replaced by a less-authentic, plasticised, waterproof bag - original... and grape flavour???

But below are Espeez (UK) "Gold Mine" nugget bubble gum by SP Enterprises Inc., and Mexican "Gold Nuggets" by Candy Creations Manufacturing Group. The new design means that the gum is separately packaged in an inner bag of clear cellophane. The gum is paler in colour to the original I remember. I found these at Sugar Fix in the CBD.

He'll be back

I was just reminded that, according to "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles", Skynet goes online next Tuesday, April 19, 2011 - and launches the missiles two days later.

Is the Governator still in office?

Alice? It figures!

Clockwise, from top left: Dodo, Alice, Humpty Dumpty, Gryphon, Cheshire Cat, Mad Hatter, Mock Turtle, White Rabbit.

I ran across eighteen Kaiyodo "Alice's Adventures in Figureland" for display in the school library last night. I collect dodos - and have always coveted my late uncle's larger Royal Doulton ceramic dodo, based on John Tenniel's design, from the Lewis Carroll novels ("Alice in Wonderland" and "Through the looking glass"). This little dodo was hanging on the front of a peg in a favourite toy shop - and I loved the quality of these irresistible little figures. I accidentally picked the right Alice (out of four possibles), too; when I got her home, I realised she came with half of Humpty's wall. Today, I glued them all to a wooden base and grassed it with model railway "grass".

More "Alice" stuff on my other blog can be found HERE! (Scroll down)

I drew this dodo in 1981:



I bought this beautiful ceramic one, by a local artist, in the early 80s:



Papo brand plastic dodo figurine:



And here's my holy grail, from Royal Doulton:



But look, there's more!

William Shatner Live!

I'm just back from "William Shatner Live"! At the gorgeous State Theatre, Sydney, venue of the gala premiere nights for both "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan" and "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home" back in the good ol' days.





Very entertaining. Highlight of the night: Shatner did a spoken word version of Men at Work's song, "Down Under", which led into a recitation of former Prime Minister Gough Whitlam's speech following his Dismissal by the Governor-General in the 70s, which led into a spoken word portion of our national song, "Waltzing Matilda".

Time to get "Away From it All"

... as narrated by Nigel Farquhar-Bennett in 1979.
And, if you can sit it out, you shall understand all. (I've been looking for this for a loooong time.) This travelogue ran as a film short before Monty Python's "Life of Brian" in some cinemas and has not been seen since. (And it's not on the DVD, much to fans' frustrations.)

Australia continued the tradition of film shorts for much longer that the USA. I think the last genuine film shorts I can recall seeing with main features in cinemas were "Rocking Horse Winner", which accompanied all of our viewings of "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan", and the black and white short film "Frankenweenie", which accompanied Disney's "Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend" - much to the surprise of "Frankenweenie" director, Tim Burton, who only discovered that it had finally been given a release when my Sydney-based "Batman" fan club, "Battalion", was able to attend a Tim Burton press conference in 1989.

Introducing Gmail Motion

1st April 2011 will go down in history as the start of something revolutionary in ICT!

Dux

31 March 2011: "To Penrith Public School students and teachers, especially teacher-librarian Ian McLean, hearing support teacher Kerrie Mead and kindergarten teacher and Student Representative Council organiser Lacey Ingle, for the wonderful slideshow in support of the Christchurch earthquake appeal. Creative, clever and deeply moving."

Note that article says "sideshow" (sic).

Who is more futuristic?

Both inspired by the 1960s, who is more "futuristic": NASA Barbie or Sydney Opera House Barbie?

Earth Hour 2011

Earth Hour

Holy wooden acting, Batman!

Handpainted wooden (unlicensed) Dynamic Duo found in a Merimbula souvenir shop in 2007. (There were many other characters, all dated underneath in pencil by the artist! These are marked as March 2005.) Batman's mask and Robin's hair are built up with a textured medium. The bendy legs are made of stiffened sash cord.

All Black Day

Mike Riversdale, via @BarristaMatt who got it from iphonewzealand.co.nz

Schools across Australia are participating in ALL BLACK DAY today, a fundraiser for the city of Christchurch, New Zealand, which was rocked by a large earthquake exactly one month ago. All images are Creative Commons, credited as requested, and found on Flickr.


gobeirne


NZ Defence Force, Crown Copyright 2011, NZ Defence Force – Some Rights Reserved.


Mark Lincoln, www.nzraw.co.nz


gobeirne


Mark Lincoln, www.nzraw.co.nz


gobeirne


NZ Defence Force, Crown Copyright 2011, NZ Defence Force – Some Rights Reserved.


Will you lend Christchurch a hand and help it to bloom again?

The above frieze was created by students in Class SCHM at Penrith Public School, in western Sydney. Teacher Mrs Mead and the teachers' aides helped the students to paint their hands, then they photographed them in the shape of colourful tulips.


UPDATE: Okay, here's our PhotoPeach slideshow

All Black Day: Christchurch earthquake appeal, 2011

An unlikely earthquake survivor?

Not wanting to make too light of two international natural disasters, but this little plastic "Star Trek" Andorian charm was purchased on eBay a few weeks ago - and was rather late arriving from Japan. He finally turned up today, with an apology sticker on the envelope: explaining he'd been found in Tokyo, at the bottom of the returning mail bag. So back to Sydney he had to go. Seems he would have been caught up in the big Japan earthquake of 2011. (The envelope wasn't damp, so I guess he managed to avoid the tsunami.)

Andorians may not be punctual, but they are resilient!



The sticker reads: "Dear Addressee, We found the mail remaining in an empty bag which had been originally sent to the destination. Thank you. Tokyo International Post Office."

Meanwhile, this recently came back from Mr Kim, my favourite local framing guy:



It's the autographed cover of Dayton Ward's "Paths of Disharmony", for which I was a beta reader.



Dare you take a stroll in New Therin Park?

How Fay got my shrunken head

I have a shrunken head story to share. Too bad there are no pictures of him - a quick Google reminded me that mine was probably more of a shrunken regular skull-with-hair than a full-on voodoo/torture victim.

Sydney's annual agricultural show, The Royal Easter Show, was an eagerly awaited event and, if we got to go, my brothers and I used to save pocket money to buy something memorable from the huge variety of often-bizarre stalls. One year, in the early 70s, I bought a rather large shrunken head (white, rubbery, hollow skull, with long, straight, black nylon hair) and it hung in my bedroom for many years, off the end of the curtain rod. Not a terribly functional toy, though, and I suffered buyer's regret pretty soon after the purchase.

We moved house in 1977 and the head's elastic hanging cord had begun to perish - so, instead of hanging up, the shrunken head ended up going on the end of an unused curtain rod that was leaning in the corner of my new bedroom. That put him up almost at ceiling height, and he was pretty much forgotten. In 1984, I moved out of home, taking my extensive array of collectibles with me, but somehow the head was left on the end of his pole; it's not like I pined to have him back - and my mother converted my old bedroom into an ironing room. Sigh.

Then, in 1987, my parents ended up selling the house back to the people we'd bought it from! Max and Fay had regretted moving interstate and wanted their old house back, and Dad and Mum made a great profit on the deal. About a year later, some neighbours told us the story of how poor ol' shortsighted Fay was renovating what used to be my bedroom. She lifted down the curtain rod and ended up with a shrunken head in her hands. Her screams could be heard across the suburb.

Building the better mousetrap

Pinky: "Do you think we can really rid ourselves of Mousey with this Better Mouseytrap?"

Brain: "Just aim the laser ray gun at those three blind mice. But, you wretched rodent, you should have removed the cellophane from the cheese first. Now fire!"