It's all in the details ...

"… And that was what Aragorn had done. He had left the City like a thief in the night - only two people had seen him go - Boromir and Faramir of the Citadel. He had kissed them farewell, and, to his never-ending shock, Faramir, Faramir the shy, reserved, silent little boy kissed him on the cheek, and said softly, “I’ll miss you!”

He had never been able to forget that, nor Boromir's childish salute. That young man in Harad - he knew it was Faramir. Only once had he gotten cleanly away from the homestead, had he looked at the pendant. A swan for Dol Amroth, and a Tree for the Citadel, and his heart had frozen.

For there were only two children in all of Middle-Earth with that lineage - one was safely home, and the other thought dead."

-- From "I Vow to Thee, My Country"

Some LOTR fan fiction is incredible - other stuff you have to wonder how the author was able to string two sentences together. The quote above is from the former category. I had found this story on WarOfTheRing.Net and I was amazed at this AU ("alternate universe") story of Faramir, Boromir, Denethor and Aragorn. In this story, Denethor is not the unmitigated bastard he is in the movie adaptations nor in the Tolkien books.

I was fascinated by the description of the medallion. This was the type of thing that would really top off (in my estimation) my Faramir outfit, even if I was the only one who knew I was wearing it.

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FYI - I wrote this post in April - the same time I received the medallions. Since I asked Russ to make two of them - one for me and one as a Christmas gift - I had to wait until December to actually post this so I wouldn't give the surprise away. How's that for patience?

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I gave Russ a call. This man is AMAZING. He absolutely thrives on challenges. For those of you finding this blog for the first time, Russ Sharek made me a Kyle Rayner version of a Green Lantern Ring.

I found the images I wanted to use on the medallion and told him I needed the thing to look old. Really old. Third Age of Middle-Earth old.

I got the medallions today. I was speechless. I mean it. Seeing the designs as an illustration was one thing, seeing them in the actual medallion was another. Looking at it, feeling it, holding it, wearing it - I could actually imagine this was one of the only two medallions ever made as such in Middle Earth. The patina of age and the less than absolutely perfect-ness only solidified the suspension of disbelief when I put it on.

And wearing it every day under my regular shirt is a pleasure in itself. The leather cording has darkened a bit which only adds to the authenticity of the piece.

A very telling incident happened during June. I was wearing the medallion under my shirt (as usual) and it happened to slip out while I was over at a friend's house checking out his new gargantuan plasma TV. We were watching Return of the King on DVD (yes, my friend and his wife are Tolkien geeks also - and what better way to "break in" the set???) and I was treated to a rush of indrawn breath from my friend's wife and a "Holy crap!" from him. (This was also on top of the comments made regarding Halfdan's Ring of Barahir) They couldn't believe how incredibly made and how amazingly authentic the medallion was. Russ deserves heaps upon heaps of kudos for making this idea a reality.

What do you think?



Even more to the point, how do you think the person who is getting the Christmas gift is going to respond?

It really is better to give than receive!!!

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 ...

How about a little feedback?

You don't have to leave your name, but please start leaving comments!

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!