Andrew Lenahan - Starblind Wire

Orange County Fair 2007 Photography Contest Results, Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew Lenahan) — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 13:16:00 +0000

Here's the second and last batch of photos from this year's Orange County Fair photography contest. All told, I got 19 ribbons out of 24 total entries. Note that the photos on this and the last post show selections from what I entered, but not every entry (or even every winner). Oh, and I have plans to show at the Virginia State Fair this year too, which will be a first for me. More info on that soon enough. Now let's get to the photos...

Architecture: Colour
An antique store building in North Carolina (I think...). Took first place.

Plant Study: Black and white
Infrared shot of river grass, took 3rd place. Compettion is always very heavy in the plant-study categories.

Pets: Black and White
Bijou! She's just yawning, but it kind of looks like she's singing. 3rd place.

Plant Study: Colour
No ribbon for this shot, although I really liked it. There were a lot of wonderful entries in both plant categories.

Special Effect: Colour
Trick shot of lights inside a giant molecule. Another first-place showing.

What Is It: Black and White
Smoothed rocks eroded by the passing river over the centuries. I like this shot because it has no point of size reference, and it's up to the viewer to decide whether they're looking at very small rocks or something enormous. In reality, the area shown in the photo was about 10 feet across. First place in category.

Orange County Fair 2007 Photography Contest results

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew Lenahan) — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 23:12:00 +0000

By now, most of you are probably in suspense over just how well I did at the Orange County Fair this year. Guess what? It rocked. Out of 24 entries total, 19 had some sort of win, with a total of ten first place, seven second place, and two third place. The remaining five, obviously, were not winners within their category. My overall win ratio was 80%, a slight improvement on last year's 75%.

Worth noting was that last year was all 8 x 10 prints, while this year some were 5 x 7 due to a technical difficulty with the proto printing machine giving some photos a pinkish cast.

I know, I know, you want photos! Here you go:

Landscape: Colour
The bizarre colouration on this aerial shot made the Grand Canyon look like the surface of Mars... but it only limped to a second place finish.

Landscape: Black & White
Similar results for this aerial black-and-white of the Rocky Mounatains.

Pets: Colour
I are serious cat. I are a first-place winner.

Sunrise / Sunset
Electricity must have been in the air when this shot from my California trip earlier this year was judged: it ended up with a socking first-place win despite extremely heavy competion in this popular category.

Special Effect: Black and White
My hardcore fans might recognise this infrared long-exposure railroad shot from my Festival of the Photograph entries earlier this summer. It's no wonder this shot gets around: it's one of the best things I've done all year. It certainly was on track to take first place in the special effect category.

Still life: Black and white
I consider this simple shot of seashells by the seashore one of the best I've ever done, unfortunately I was only able to get a 5x7 print of it. But that didn't stop it from a first-place take.

Livestock: Black and white
Second place goes to these monochrome bovines hoofing it across a stark rural landscape. Note: this wasn't actually an infrared shot, although it does somewhat look like it.

Orange County Fair
The fair has a special category for images taken at the fair itself (last year's, obviously, unless you happen to be a time traveller) and this image of colourful handwoven baskets from one of the vendor's stalls took a solid first place. The same vendor was there this year, and he seemed very pleased that I'd won with a shot of his wares. He said he's be there next year too, and I offered him a free print of this shot.

Life in Orange County
Hungry for more train photography? This high-contrast infrared shot of a freight train going through Gordonsville made it to a respectable second-place finish in the popular Life in Orange County category.

Well, that's nine of them. Come back soon for more!

--Andrew Lenahan

Orange County Fair 2007 Photography contest

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew Lenahan) — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 15:28:00 +0000

The Orange County Fair starts today, and I'm certainly ready. Last year I entered twelve photographs and ended up winning nine categories, which is not bad at all.

This year, though, I'm going all-in, with 24 different shots in competition, ranging from portraits to pets, livestock to special effects. Later tonight I'll find out how I did... until then, cross your collective fingers!

-Andrew Lenahan

A Year of Silence

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew Lenahan) — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 15:13:00 +0000

Can it really have been nearly a year since I wrote anything here?

First of all, I'm sorry to anyone awaiting updates month after month, only to find nothing. Believe me, it's not for lack of anything interesting to say, that's for sure. Indeed, if anything this year has been the most exhilarating, bizarre, and delightfully chaotic of them all, full of new people, places, and experiences.

This was the year I added 7 additional states toward my goal of visiting them all. This was the year I had my photography exhibited professionally. This was the year I finally got to see the Pacific ocean. This was the year I hiked some of the Appalachian Trail and saw the Shenandoah valley from 3,400 feet above. This was the year I found a house of my own, and promptly added a stone tiki head to the front yard. This was the year I rescued a tiny orange kitten from a drain pipe. This was the year I saw the Grand Canyon, the Rocky Mountains, and the Rio Grande. This was the year Madeline and I went our separate ways. This was the year I decided to cover my car completely with stickers, and I'm making great progress along those lines. This was the year I met Lis, Marsha, Ashley, Kathy, Nicole, Cait, and others who have shown me just how wonderful central Virginia can be. This was the year I climbed to the top of a lighthouse. This was the year I learned to make burritos all by myself. This was the year I got quoted in the Washington Post. This was the year I had a major ankle sprain that made it look like I had a baseball under my skin. This was the year I began experimenting with infrared photography and even made my own stereoscope.

The odd thing is, even with no new posts, my statistics show that my number of visitors has actually grown in the past year. As a reward for your loyalty and patience, I promise no more long absences in the future.

It's a fresh start, so let's dive in!

The Saddest Day: Bye Bye, Julie

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew Lenahan) — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 12:46:00 +0000

"The smallest feline is a masterpiece."
- Leonardo da Vinci

My cat, Julie, was run over by a car today. She was very sweet, cuddly, and affectionate. She was less than one year old.

Words can't describe the feeling of loss from losing someone you love, even someone small and furry. It's even worse when it happens unnaturally, when she was still really just a baby.

There's so much I want to say about her, and her short but hopefully happy life, but maybe it's best to share some of my many pictures of her and let them speak for themselves.

Julie the wild cat. The first picture of Julie, when she was still a stray and wouldn't approach anyone.

This was the first time she came inside. She soon broke that little stained-glass candle thingy. We didn't care.

Julie in a basket with Sammy (the grey kitten) whom she sort of adopted. Sammy's still around, but won't let anyone come near her.

Julie the lap cat. This is where she was happiest, and how we remember her best: curled up in a lap, filled with joy.

I'm going to really miss her.

Bye bye, Julie.

Save the Moon!

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew Lenahan) — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 16:52:00 +0000

By now, most of you have probably heard the news: THE MOON IS LEAVING. Click here for an article about it. Just how important this is probably hasn't set in for some of you, and you're just going about your daily lives. Others of you are probably panicking, clawing at the walls and furniture, defragmenting, or howling. But I'm not just going to sit around and do nothing. It's time we made a stand and took positive action. I'm not sure what exactly just yet. Possibly writing in to congressmen, or putting magnets on the roof. Don't worry, folks, I'll think of something.

Cute Kitten Pictures 2

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew Lenahan) — Tue, 15 Aug 2006 16:20:00 +0000

For your viewing enjoyment, here's 3 more pictures of the cute little kittens...

I just got a bath!

Uhh, I think I'd rather do my own bath, thanks.

They don't quite fit.

Cute kitten pictures!

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew Lenahan) — Fri, 11 Aug 2006 22:11:00 +0000

Because you (well, two of you) demanded it, here's pictures of the little kittens we rescued from the roadside in the previous entry!

"Mini-Jiji", who resembles a tiny version of our own Jiji.

Mini-Julie, Mini-Jiji, and Mini-Ra.

The little tabby kitten, Mini-Tigger.

Cute Kittens!

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew Lenahan) — Thu, 10 Aug 2006 17:42:00 +0000

Guess what I have? FOUR brand new baby cute kittens! Madeline found them by the side of the road on the highway. They must have been abandoned. How can people do something like that with so many nice shelters around?

I won't really be able to keep them for very long since I have cats already and can't properly take care of this many, but they're wonderful to have around until homes can be found.

PS: I know, I know, you want pictures. I've taken a lot already, but it'll be a few days until I can upload them. Trust me, the cuteness is extreme.

Exhibiting at the fair

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew Lenahan) — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 18:57:00 +0000

The Orange County Fair is this weekend, at historic Montpelier, former home of James Madison (currently still dead). I'll have 12 new photos on exhibit, as well as a new painting and sculpture. It's all new work, nothing seen in public before. Madeline also has a new painting (which is also on DeviantART here) and a variety of crafts. If any readers are in the area they should stop by and have a look.

Starblind Nation 4: Underestimating Comics

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew Lenahan) — Fri, 07 Jul 2006 15:44:00 +0000

That's right, it's yet more Starblind Nation!
You can also read it at DeviantART or read it at ComicGenesis.

Depeche Mode - Playing The Angel Tour Live Pictures, Part 3

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew Lenahan) — Thu, 25 May 2006 18:03:00 +0000

Touring The Angel show, live at Nissan Pavillion. Here's our third straight day of live Depeche Mode pictures!

Depeche Mode: Another taken during "John the Revelator", this time with the ball visible, all lit up in green. The screen says "Dave", which is either a reference to Dave Gahan or a sign that the ball has developed sentience of its own and started talking like the computer HAL in Kubrick's movie 2001.

Depeche Mode: From the song "I Feel You". By this point Dave Gahan was shirtless. I guess it gets pretty hot under the lights. I like how the blurring in this shot gives him a look like a satyr or demon.

Depeche Mode: Another one from the "I Feel You" performance. Great pose right here, just asking to be photographed. The shirtless Dave Gahan pictures, by the way, are dedicated to Madeline, who I'm sure will appreciate them greatly!

That's all for today. Come back tomorrow for even more live Depeche Mode pictures!

Depeche Mode - Playing The Angel Tour Live Pictures, Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew Lenahan) — Wed, 24 May 2006 15:54:00 +0000

Touring The Angel show, live at Nissan Pavillion. Here's day two of the pictures!

Depeche Mode: Taken during the song "Suffer Well". This shot gives you an idea of just how big the stage and sound system was. Note the fashion-show-type runway area and all the hanging speakers.

Depeche Mode: Taken during the song "Walking In My Shoes". By this time the projection screens at the back of the stage had been revealed, and "Walking In My Shoes" had some of the best projections of the night. I didn't get any good shots of the projections, but it was the Boschian bird creature from the single cover art, walking to the right in bright red. Anyway, in this shot you can see the grey ball in action, and catch a glimpse of the achingly emotive vocal work of Dave Gahan.

Depeche Mode: Taken during "John the Revelator", a song from the Playing the Angel album which I'm told is to be the next single. Note the screen projections, which are a mix of pre-made images and live video footage of the performance. Note also the colour-changing lights on the keyboard stands.

That's it for today's batch, come back tomorrow for more!

Depeche Mode - Playing The Angel Tour Live Pictures, Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew Lenahan) — Tue, 23 May 2006 18:41:00 +0000

Here's the first batch of Depeche Mode pictures, as promised. It really was a great show, and I found I preferred many of the live versions to the studio versions, which is quite rare for me. I took over 200 pictures, and I'll share some of the best of them here over the next few days.

Here's the setlist:

A Pain That I'm Used To
A Question Of Time
Suffer Well
Precious
Walking In My Shoes
Stripped
Home [Probably my favourite Depeche Mode song ever... according to Madeline, sung by "Martin Short", I must say!]
It Doesn't Matter Two
In Your Room
Nothing's Impossible
John The Revelator
I Feel You
Behind The Wheel
World In My Eyes
Personal Jesus
Enjoy The Silence
(encore follows)
Leave in Silence
Photographic [From Speak & Spell, introduced as "the first song we ever recorded". Nice to hear a Vince Clarke track get played!]
Never Let Me Down Again

Now, on with the pictures!

This pictures are taken by me, Andrew Lenahan. I don't mind if they're used elsewhere on the web as long as you give me credit and link back here. If you're not sure, just contact me and ask. Also, these are obviously smaller and less clear than the originals, just because they need to be sized and compressed for web use. If you have any use for the originals, contact me!

First up, here's the opening act, She Wants Revenge. I quite liked what I heard of them, they have a very distinctive Joy Division / New Order influence.

Here's the set. It had a very sci-fi feel, with a big greyish ball which flashed various messages and very retro-futuristic keyboard stations.

During the second song, A Question of Time. The disco ball thing counted down on its screens throughout the song, as if it was going to explode or something. It didn't.

That's all for now. More pictures next time!

Depeche Mode tonight!

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew Lenahan) — Sun, 21 May 2006 17:01:00 +0000

Madeline and I will be travelling to Northern Virginia tonight for the Depeche Mode show at Nissan Pavilion. They're touring in support of their new album, "Playing The Angel", which as far as I can tell seems to have Big Bird on the cover. I should have some pictures and a full report on the show soon. Stay tuned!

"...for I am running to paradise."

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew Lenahan) — Fri, 14 Apr 2006 21:26:00 +0000

Spring break is once again upon us, and Madeline and I are heading southward to the shores of Florida for the next ten days. We'll also be visiting New Orleans and Biloxi again, since we went there last year before Hurricane Katrina struck, and to see the impact of a disaster before-and-after like this is a rare opportunity. I don't think I'll have much time to get online during the trip, but if I do I'll be sure to keep my loyal readers updated. And, as always, expect some new photos when I get back!

More press coverage

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew Lenahan) — Fri, 24 Mar 2006 14:18:00 +0000

A story about Madeline's belly dance teaching was in the paper today. They interviewed us both, and I got quoted in a nice little paragraph. Here it is for your reading pleasure.

Part 2

Star Wars: The Saga Collection R2-D2 (the Battle of Hoth) action figure review by Andrew Lenahan

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew Lenahan) — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 00:43:00 +0000

Figure: R2-D2 (the Battle of Hoth)
Property: Star Wars
Series: The Saga Collection
Number: Saga 010
Keywords: R2-D2, Artoo-Detoo, Astromech, Droid, Droids
Company: Hasbro
Release year: 2006

Note: This is the second R2-D2 figure I've reviewed. The first was the Episode III R2-D2 from 2005.

Series Overview:
With the final new Star Wars movie behind us, Hasbro turns its attention once again to reissuing classic characters. Unlike the 2004 Original Trilogy Collection, the new Saga Collection does include characters from the three prequels as well as the classic trilogy. Most of these new figures are great-looking, with excellent paint work in particular. But the entire line hinges on whether collectors (and perhaps more importantly, kids and casual fans) will once again shell out for more figures of the same characters. Hopefully, the answer is yes, as these are great figures and deserve recognition as such.

Character Overview:
A cylendrical astromech droid with a domed head, R2-D2 is easily one of the most recognisable Star Wars caracters. This particular figure represents R2-D2 as seen in the Battle of Hoth, from the beginning of The Empire Strikes Back. R2-D2 is in the process of fleeing the Echo Base on Hoth with Luke Skywalker in the X-Wing.

Action Figure Sculpt and Paint: 9
Those expecting something brand new will be disappointed from the start: this R2-D2 is a repaint of the Original Trilogy Collection's faux-vintage figure (though without the removable panel and tools). Fortunately, they picked a great figure to repaint, and at a lower price point as well! This Artoo has a removable front leg, glowing "eye" feature, and a sensorscope which moves up and down while his head is turned! What about detail? This figure is loaded with it, right down to rarely-seen touches like painted stripes in Artoo's, uh, underarm areas. Since the Echo Base wasn't exactly the Waldorf-Astoria, R2-D2 has some painted grunge on his lower half. The effect is very delicate and subtle.

Articulation: 7
R2-D2 has a 360-degree turning head (which also activates his sensorscope feature), plus joints at the shoulders and both rear ankles. In addition, all three legs have rolling wheels under their feet so that R2-D2 can roll a bit. There isn't much articulation possible in an astromech droid figure, and this R2-D2 is actually better than most.

Accessories: 8
R2-D2 comes with several accessories, which is also above average for an astromech. He has a "survival kit" consisting of a box with lid (which reminded me of a cooler), a rations box with lid (a small flat box), and an emergency lantern. I have read that the survival kit accessories are actually repaints from a 2002 Toys R Us exclusive Luke Skywalker's X-Wing Fighter vehicle. Still, it's an improvement on the sparse accessories one usually gets with an R2-D2, and I certainly don't mind seeing some obscure accessories getting reissued.

There's also a display base. I was never much of a fan of the generic display bases from the Original Trilogy Collection, but this update at least has the Empire Strikes Back logo embossed on it, and a little place with R2-D2's name on the front edge. Oddly, it also has a peg for standing up a figure with a foot peg hole, which R2-D2 doesn't have.

Finally, like all Saga Collection figures, R2-D2 comes with a "hologram" figure moulded in sparkly blue translucent plastic. I got a lightsaber-wielding Luke Skywalker. I certainly would have preferred one more accessory--anything at all--that could be used with the figure, but I'm sure some people are sure to like these and will collect them.

Oh, one more thing... oddly enough, R2-D2 also comes with an instruction sheet explaining how to make the sensorscope feature work by rotating the head. It seems to me that even the dimmest youngling could figure that out on their own, but there it is anyway.

Packaging: Very Slightly Above Average
The Saga Collection comes in a rather basic card backing with a large shaped bubble. I do like that the backing card shows a scene with the character's environment from the movies.

Overall score: 8.5
The Saga Collection R2-D2 is a fine figure, and I'd even go so far as to say that this is the best R2-D2 figure yet. While the accessories aren't quite as qonderful as last year's Episode III R2-D2, the sculpt and paint is far better, which more than makes up for it. If your collection still doesn't have an R2-D2, go ahead and get this one. If you already have the other dozen or so R2-D2s... well, there's always room for one more, isn't there?

Availability:
As of this writing (March 2006), this is a current figure and easily available in numerous stores, including Toys R Us, Wal-Mart, and K B Toys.

Adult Swim: Sealab 2021 Quinn and Debbie action figure review by Andrew Lenahan

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew Lenahan) — Tue, 14 Mar 2006 14:56:00 +0000

Figure: Quinn and Debbie
Property: Adult Swim
Series: Adult Swim Series 1
Keywords: Adult Swim, Cartoon Network, Sealab 2020, Sealab 2021, Dr. Quentin Q. Quinn, Debbie DuPree, "White Debbie"
Company: Palisades Toys
Release year: 2005

Series Overview:
With a wide array of diverse characters ranging from trial lawyers to alien mantis to sentient meatballs, Cartoon Network's Adult Swim block of programming seems like an obvious choice for an action figure line. And Palisades Toys, creators of the legendarily good Muppets line of figures, seems like an obvious choice to pull it off. Palisades had an excellent idea to sell the figures as two-packs, in hopes of reducing peg-warmer syndrome by offering obscure characters paired with popular ones. Unfortunately, this also brought the price up considerably, at some stores well into the $15.00 range.

Character Overview:
Dr. Quentin Q. Quinn is probably the smartest Sealab crew member (with the possible exception of the scheming Sparks), and certainly the most capable of actually doing his job. This might be due to the fact that he's actually a robot, however.

Debbie DuPree is Sealab's resident marine biologist, and is sometimes in a relationship with Quinn. She's probably best remembered for a first-season episode where she became obsessed with having a baby and had to decide which crew member to procreate with. That episode is also the reason for the dolphin and clock accessories in this set.

Action Figure Sculpt and Paint: 6
Unfortunately, both figures offer somewhat underwhelming sculpts, especially by Palisades standards. Quinn's facial likeness is the low point here, which bears only a slight resemblance to the cartoon version. The cartoon quinn has fuller hair, thicker eyebrows, a wider head, broader nose, bigger lips... overall, the figure looks far too caucasian and otherwise different. Debbie's facial likeness is by far the better of the two, but still not perfect. It's a good thing these guys are sporting their distinctive orange jumpsuits, because nobody would recognise these figures based on their faces alone.

Both figures have decent enough body sculpts, but both are too skinny and Debbie has much larger breasts than in the cartoon. The paint job is competent but without much in the way of detail, though this is excusable since the cartoon versions don't have much detail to them, either.

Articulation: 6.5
Quinn and Debbie move at all the same places: neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists, waist, and hips. Though this isn't terrible, none of the articulation points are of the ball-joint type, and knee joints would have been much more useful than the twistable waists.

Accessories: 8
Accessories are definitely a high point for these figures. There's a TV, underwater camera, three liquor bottles, a shot glass, can of Mingus Dew soda, Debbie's dolphin "baby", and Debbie's biological clock. I like the liquor bottles as they have huge potential as diorama props, though I wish they'd put some more effort into the bottle labels: for example, one just has "WHISKEY" in white letters on a plain black label. I know they can't have used real liquor bottle labels due to license issues, but they could have done lookalikes a la Todd McFarlane's "Strange Brew" figures from way back when with their "Hosehead" beer. Other than the bottles, the best accessory is the clock, which is stickered to look just like the one on the show.

Packaging: Slightly Above Average
The Adult Swim figures some in clamshell cases with paper inserts showing a background environment for the characters.

Overall score: 7
While the quantity of accessories keeps their overall score out of the mud, I'd still say these figures are somewhat of a disappointment, especially at their $15 price point. The line still has a great deal of potential though. Let's hope Palisades manages to recover during series 2.

Availability:
Probably the best place to find these is in Hot Topic stores. Don't let the high price worry you, as Hot Topic seem to have put their Adult Swim figures in their clearance section at around 50% off. If you can't get to a Hot Topic or just can't stand shopping there, try eBay instead.

Fear of being tickled by The Great Mole Rat covered in peanut butter...

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew Lenahan) — Sat, 28 Jan 2006 13:18:00 +0000

Generally, I don't link to many commercial sites, but every now and then there's one that's just too wonderful to ignore. Such is the case when I discovered a company dedicated to easing peanut-butter phobias.

From their site: "For anyone earning a living, the financial toll of this phobia is incalculable. Living with fear means you can never concentrate fully and give your best. Lost opportunities. Poor performance or grades. Promotions that pass you by. peanut butter phobia will likely cost you tens, even hundreds of thousands of dollars over the course of your lifetime..."

I think that's true. Working in corporate America, I lost count of all the promising folks who failed to get ahead solely because being near crunchy Skippy made them shriek and flee the area. Even now, when I'm approached by some bum asking for spare change, as I pour hot pepper spray into their big sad eyes I can't help wondering how big a role peanut butter played in their downfall.

It's clear that they're doing great work here. But what about those of us without a peanut butter phobia? Have no fear! (get it? fear? that's a little joke) These same folks can also help you with your fear of Bolsheviks, being tickled with a feather, ventriloquists ' dummies, balloons, Walloons, and, of course, by popular demand, The Great Mole Rat.

Jigglypuff Birthday Cake

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew Lenahan) — Thu, 26 Jan 2006 02:16:00 +0000

Longtime readers might remember the Starblind logo cake. This year, Madeline made me a cake version of Jigglypuff, complete with microphone!

This can also be seen on DeviantART.

Marvel Select Ultimate Thor action figure review by Andrew Lenahan

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew Lenahan) — Wed, 18 Jan 2006 21:19:00 +0000

Figure: Ultimate Thor
Property: Marvel Super Heroes
Series: Marvel Select
Keywords: Thor; Marvel Universe; Avengers; Ultimates; Mjolnir; Norse Thunder God; God of Thunder
Company: Toy Biz / Diamond Select

Series Overview:
A counterpoint to the more mainstream Marvel Legends figures, the collector-oriented Marvel Select line is larger in scale, packaged differently, and distributed mostly through comic shops. While production values (and accessories in particular) tend to be excellent, such quality does come at a cost: Marvel Select figures tend to retail at a price point around $17 to $25!

Character Overview:
Ah, the mighty Thor, Norse God of Thunder and hammer-wielding good guy. Although he has a long history in the comic books, including being part of the Avengers, I always associate the character with the movie Adventures in Banysitting, in which one of the kids is Thor-obsessed. This Thor is from the Ultimate Marvel range of characters, which means he's more grim and gritty and all that. It also means no more cool tiny wings.

Action Figure Sculpt and Paint: 8.5
The bottom line here is that the sculpt is a masterpiece, but the paint is just adequate. There's a huge amount of detail, particularly in the lower body, with each bootlace and pants rivet sculpted with tender loving care. The best part of the sculpt is the face: a wonderfully-expressed look of determination and anger, as though dealing a mighty bonk with his hammer. The hair, which is sculpted of soft rubber, has fine detail work as well. The only major sculpt concern is that the head seems noticably too small for the body, and while that does make him look less like a real person, it's a common aspect of superhero artwork.

The paint is another matter. The paint job is fairly simple, and what is there is far from perfect. My figure had sloppy paint ops on his back where the costume and flesh meet. Even worse is the bizarre "tan" on Thor's arms. An example: his inner arm and armpit have a dark pink hue, as does the outer arm. However, the front of his arm (with the vein) is not tanned. This means that either he's got no skills when it comes to applying Coppertone, or the paint ops are fairly nonsensical. The bright spot of the paint job, though, is the cool glow-in-the-dark circles on his torso. Apparently, these are electric in the comic. Despite having been around for decades, glow-in-the-dark is still somewhat cool, especially where it isn't particularly expected.

Articulation: 7.5
Thor's articulation is good, although it's obvious that the sculpt quality takes precedence here. Thor moves at the neck (ball joint), shoulders, biceps, wrists, waist, hips, knees, and ankles. Not bad at all, although standing is a bit of a problem, especially without any pegs in the base (not holes for them in his feet, for that matter!).

Accessories: 9.5
Obviously you can't have a Thor figure without his signature weapon, the magical hammer Mjolnir. Unlike the squarish sledgehammer-like Mjolnir of old, the Ultimate Thor has a much larger, goofier-looking hammer, like something out of a Bugs Bunny cartoon. Despite its cartoonish quality and unwieldiness as a weapon, it's decently sculpted and painted, with a worn-looking paint texture and metallic shine. the head is hollow hard plastic, while the shaft is flexible rubber. It fits in either of Thor's hands.

But the best accessory, and perhaps the best part of the whole figure, is the base. It's huge and a work of art on its own. It's basically the chest and face of Giant Man, knocked out and lying in a bed of rubble. Apparently, the base is supposed to represent a scene in The Ultimates comic book (issue #5). I can't say enough good things about it. Stood on end, it's taller than Thor himself. It has an amount of detail rivalling the figure itself. Heck, if even has a keyhole hanger on the back so you could wall-mount it and freak out guests! If they ever make an Action Figure Base Hall of Fame, this one would be part of the inaugural collection.

Packaging: Massive
The packing looks nice, but it's huge--especially bizarre since it's intended for comic shops, which often have limited shelf space. But ultimately, the packaging does its job.

Overall score: 9
If you want a Thor figure, this is the one to get. It might even be the "ultimate" Thor figure. I'm just hilarious. Anyway, a solid figure with some easy-to-overlook paint problems and a wonderful base. The base alone makes this an easy figure to recommend.

Availability:
Although it's supposed to be sold in comic shops, I've also seen some of these in more mainstream retailers such as Suncoast. In either case, the price point is likely to be a problem, so try and grab one on sale or head to eBay.

Wikipedia and the coming article crunch

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew Lenahan) — Thu, 22 Dec 2005 13:19:00 +0000

Although it hasn't happened yet, and arguably isn't likely to happen for months or perhaps years, there will be a point at which every even slightly encyclopedic topic will have a Wikipedia article. Think about it: an average week goes by... there's maybe two or three major news stories, a handful of books, movies, and records get released, maybe a new product or two comes to market, and occasionally there will be some sort of scientific discovery. Even by very loose standards, that would be maybe 50-200 new encyclopedic topics per week. Wikipedia has thousands of editors, and currently several new articles every minute.

Since I don't think the flow of new articles will cease once the encyclopedic topics are covered, this means we'll reach a point when "bad" new articles will far outnumber the "good" new articles. Any action on Wikipedia's part to help stem the tide is a good thing. Wikipedia's openness is both its greatest asset and its curse. The challenge it must face is to strike that perfect balance between freedom and control. All the openness in the world will do it no good if nobody takes it seriously as even a causal information source.

Starblind Nation 3: Christmas Special

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew Lenahan) — Tue, 20 Dec 2005 17:49:00 +0000

Happy holidays, folks!

Starblind Nation 2: Now With More Broccoli

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew Lenahan) — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 16:56:00 +0000

As promised, here's the second part of Starblind Nation. Enjoy!