Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Current Fixations

Here are some of my current fixations:

Steampunk.

This is still a major interest for me. I am a moderator of the Steampunk Gear Flickr pool, and I am planning a "Steampunk Seer" costume for Dragoncon in August.

Psychics / Tarot Card Art


In order to make a great "seer" costume, I have been investigating the symbols and practises of the occult, the workings of H.P. Lovecraft and of psychics in general. Some very interesting stuff. I have been on the hunt for some great Tarot Card images to incorporate into my outfit. I think I'm partial to "The Hanged Man" and "The Magician" but I have yet to find an incarnation of them that will work with the steampunk theme.

Skeptics
Now I'm not a believer in divination or psychics so it is kind of ironic that I would choose to make a costume depicting a psychic to wear at Dragoncon, when James Randi, one of the great debunkers of faith healers and spoon benders will be there. I've been a big fan of "The Amazing Randi" since I was a kid, and putting on really bad magic shows for my friends and family. His demonstration of "Psychic Surgery" on the Johnny Carson show has stuck with me to this day. His quest to instill rational thinking, and displace superstitions is noble and inspiring.

Kit Fisto

I have been slowly completing my Kit Fisto collection, which now includes most of the action figures and toys depicting the great grinning green Jedi from the Star Wars prequels. I even have some original sketches from the Tartakovsky Clone Wars cartoon series. I have also recently created a flickr group called Everybody loves Fisto for fans to show their love.

Paris

I've been planning a trip to Paris so I have been familiarizing myself with the language, history, and architecture of the city. When doing some research to prepare for a trip, I often try to see what current fixations of mine can be found in the new city. For example, when I went to LA for Celebration IV, I also found the filming location of Kirby Plaza for the season finale for "Heroes".

When planning for Paris I was seeing what "steampunk" things I could find. Then it hit me. I didn't have to seek out steampunk elements in Paris because Paris IS Steampunk.

The Eiffel Tower is 7,300 tons of steel and rivets that was the rally point for Santos-Dumont's Airship in 1901, and now in 2007 the tower sports a restaurant named after the science fiction author, Jules Vern.

Enough said.

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Introduction to a book I will never write

"The image of you standing atop Mt. Rushmore in your coonskin cap has been scared into my retinas like a cattle brand. I know we were seconds away from being nabbed by agents from half a dozen organizations with initials, but why did you jump off Lincoln's noggin with the diamonds?

You left me there to be tackled by a stout man from the ATF and a lovely woman from the FWS. They still write me, but do you?"

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Paris based Humour

Orly?

Crossing lolcat grade internet humour with planning a trip to Paris, I have forged this offering. We must name this sub-sub-genre appropriately. LOLParis or LOLFrance seems to obvious. I think it may work with a "french laugh" which would be spelt "hoh-hoh-hohParis" or perhaps "hohParis". It's funnier if you say it aloud.

Like most things, it is less funny if you have to explain it.

Friday, January 11, 2008

Trek Season Song

Here is a nice video to help you remember which episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation occurred in which season.

[Link to video should the embed fail]




Wednesday, January 09, 2008

52 Weeks

After finishing the 365 days project last September, I have been both relieved that I didn't have to carry my camera around anymore, and itching to start a new project.

Week 01 - Fender dans la bouche

I decided to join the 52 Weeks project to fill the photographic void in my timetable. It is a similar project, wherein one takes a weekly self portrait and posts it to Flickr. This may be harder to do, without the constant burden of creativity, the ability to slack increases.

One may think that with a week spent planing, setting up and executing a photo, the quality and creativity of each shot should be superior to that of a daily photograph. However week one has me inserting the "Rock Band" headstock in my mouth.

More on that later.