Vaderday Saturday - Steampunk Darth Vader

Today's "Vaderday Saturday" is a steampunk entry:



It was sold on eBay at one time by someone named "pogo*the*clown"

He described it thusly: "I modified the helmet by carving out detail to make it look like brass plate and adding several tacks to simulate rivets. This process was tedious and took forever. I finished it off with a WWI style helmet spike, which is actually a ceiling fan pull chain and an antique paint job. The chest plate was made from a shadow box frame (8 inches tall x 6 inches wide x 3 inches deep) and a bunch of cannibalized clock, and other device parts. I wired a green LED to a switch in the back that runs on two AA batteries. The steam tank was made from a piece of PVC pipe with a vintage pressure valve inserted into it."

Boxey and Buck

"Say, Boxey!" From the Chicago comic con last Saturday. Noah Hathaway (left) and Gil Gerard (right).Noah was Boxey on the original "Battlestar Galactica". He was the kid who hung around with the robot ape/dog. Gil Gerard was in the "Buck Rogers" TV show. Both were signing autographs. The new "Battlestar Galactica" only had a Boxey character in one episode, and later had boxing instead. The woman from "Buck Rogers", Erin Gray (who played Wilma Deering) was at the convention too, but in a different row far away from Buck.

Marvel in black and white

This is the first of what might be a few posts about last weekend's Wizardworld Chicago comic-con (comic book convention).

I am really out of it when it comes to Marvel comics. What is with the monochrome costumes? They appear to have chemical diagrams or Tron-suit lines on them.For non-comic book fans, the man covered in what looks like busted flower-pot shards is The Thing. Wolverine is in the front. Captain America is he one with the mighty shield. Wolvie's got pretty good claws. He'd have been good to take to a night on the town at a great Chicago steak house. There were so many great costumes, and everyone wearing them was always happy to stop so I could take a picture, like this one.

Magritte Monday: Tubular Bells

The "Magritte Monday" feature is pretty much about art, photos, and literature inspired by the surrealist paintings of Rene Magritte (1898 - 1967), especially "Le Château des Pyrénées " (1959), which features a castle on top of a rock which floats above the seashore. Today's entry is the album cover art for the 1973 record album "Tubular Bells" by Mike Oldfield. A bent pipe floats above the seashore instead of a rock with a castle on it.

Fine print on the cover contains this ominous warning: "This stereo record cannot be played on old tin boxes no matter what they are fitted with. If you are in possession of such equipment please hand it into the nearest police station."

The cover art was by Trevor Key, and originally came from the idea of a bell which had been destroyed. The bent-bell emblem ended up appearing on several more albums, and Oldfield ended up using it as his logo-symbol. I've been unable to find out which ocean shore this photo was taken at. Other album art by Trevor Key included Peter Gabriel's "So".

The iconic 'Tubular Bells' cover is from the golden years of record album cover at. This whole field took a blow with CDs replaced LP records. And now... well, you just don't have cover art for MP3's do you? And this is what passes for cover art now.

Also see this link

Does anyone have any favorite old record covers they'd like to mention? Or even modern CD covers?