Lonely Echoes ...

Hey folks,

I know that you're reading the blog and I'm more than happy to continue documenting all the adventures I'm having ...

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Mae Govannen!

Herion

Preparing For Glory .... Part I: The Helmet

I got an email from JJ last night - my helmet is DONE!

I didn't get the Leonidas helmet since I'm not of royal blood ... (ducal, but not royal). Then again, I don't think the ancient Spartans had as big a noble hierarchy - king, queen, prince, princess and everyone else.

Being the masochist I am, I had told JJ to hold all the Spartiate items until he was done (helmet, greaves, sandals, and bracers) and then send them in one fell swoop. Depending on when the items are actually done and shipped, the pictures I could take are going to have to be indoor shots - it's gotten a bit too cold for outside shots. The shield itself is on another time track - along with the Boromir shield. I just wish I could give JJ the credit he deserves for making this stuff - he is a true artisan!!

Here are the shots - AMAZING!

Ethan Hawke? Me?

I did it. The cat's finally out of the bag. You're going to see my face. By some fortuitous turn of events, I was off this Halloween from work and also had plans to attend a rather expensive party that night and another on Saturday. I decided to go as Boromir in my full LOTR regalia. I didn't know if there was going to be any photographers present and I decided "What the hell. Let me take some pictures beforehand."

I must say, they were amazing. I think what really nailed it was the wig and facial hair. I'm not the tow-headed Sean Bean, but nevertheless, there was no doubt that I was the Captain of the White Tower. It blended in perfectly. I've posted a few on a Yahoo group and brought some into work. As I had said in my last entry, I've been getting compliments all of a sudden. I seem to be in a classic psychological feedback loop - the more compliments I get, the umm ... "friskier" I feel and act, which encourages more compliments, and so on. The responses to these pictures were definitely more emphatic:

• "Damn, is that YOU?"
• "You look so HOT in that outfit?"
• "I love a sexy man in armor!"
• "Do you know how f***ing sexy you are?"

I had one person tell me, "You look just like Ethan Hawke!" - that was a new one. I never thought of myself as movie-star handsome, but obviously I do bear a more than passing resemblance to the actor.

Here is a side-by-side:


and here are some shots of the two costumes:

Out of the Carbonite!!!

After a somewhat slow period as far as my personal projects go, everything seems to be popping!!

The good news!

• There's only one more commission that JJ is working on before he gets to all of my stuff - Ranger sword, Faramir sword, Spartan armor and shields.

• Russ completed the Spartan "Mede-killer" pendant which I now have in my hands - it's definitely unsettling, to say the least. Just something a bloodthirsty Greek warrior would wear!

• David finished remaking the Spartan falcata scabbard. Instead of the cheap, Chinese leather (that probably had excessive lead in it too!) I have a beautiful antiqued brown leather covering for the close-combat weapon! Also, he put on a nicely primitive bronze clutch buckle instead of the stainless steel buckle with varnish that came with the original scabbard.

• I received the Spartan spear from Strongblade - very nice! Well put together, well balanced and frighteningly authentic at over 7 feet long. The spear is composed of two halves that screw together - a steel/iron leaf-shaped main blade and a sharp bronze butt spike:
  

So Why CARBONITE?

You may be wondering about the title of the post - I promised Andrea that I would take pictures of the entire Han Solo outfit once I got all the pieces together. And I have been jokingly referred to as the "Headless Horseman of the blogosphere" in some quarters - mainly because pictures of myself stop at the neck. I'm finally showing a bit more of myself and above the neck, too!

Just recently (and by multiple people, yet!), I've been told that I'm a very handsome, extremely sexy-looking man and that I have beautiful azure eyes - "just like the waters off the Cote D'Azur." Damn ... flattery will get you everywhere ... I guess my Cappie powers are on the rise again - I'm getting more copper-red strands in my hair (versus white or grey) and in the right light, my eyes do appear to have a blue-purple hue instead of the normal deep blue-green ...

Seriously, though -- I'm just very picky about displaying my likeness online in these days of Facebook and MySpace abuse by employers. So, after setting up the tripod and camera today, here's a sample of the photo session. Everything felt GREAT! Andrea performs her magic again!

Bollywood Redux !

I've got to hand it to Rakesh Roshan - these movies keep getting better and better. As I mentioned before, Krrish (the follow up to Koi Mil Gaya) is a big-budget action adventure romance. This mega-production has pieces from:

• Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
• House of Flying Daggers
• Tomorrow Never Dies
• The Forbin Project
• Dr. No
• Batman
• Superman 3
• On The Town
• The Devil's Advocate
• Titan AE
  

What we have here is a superb mix of James Bond, Batman, and Superman with (of course) a love story and a really evil, evil villain. The best thing about these movies is that they accomplish holding the audience's attention without having to resort to blood, gore, sex scenes or full-frontal (or full-backal) nudity - you actually enjoy the movie for itself. Okay, sometimes the musical production numbers can get a little overdone, but they produce the same feeling of awe and amazement as the old 1930's extravaganzas with the rotating stages, lighted stairs and hundreds of dancers hoofing away to a Big Band beat. It's just fun!

Do yourself a favor - watch the two of these over a long weekend - you won't be disappointed!