Crunch Time!

Well, some unexpected news in the last week.

First, the lab has been pushed up. WAY UP. It needs to be prepped and ready for a show in mid September!

So, as you can imagine, I’ve been a wee bit busy attempting to get that all accomplished.

We have some work yet to be done on Bob, and I REALLY want my tribute to the Brain that Wouldn’t Die prepped as well before the thing goes live.

Otherwise, most other items just need a coating of paint to be ready, fortunately. I’ll be catching up on the pictures and blogging on all that when I get the chance, in the mean time, though, know I’m just very hard at work prepping my lab.

I do want to give a special plug for a new show on the History channel.

Clash of the Gods.

In reality, there is no earth shattering information being spewed out from the show to anyone with even a cursory study of Greek Mythology. What really bears mention, however, is the art direction.

Absolutely fabulous. VERY unique takes on most things mentioned. Behold Hades and Carrion.

Refreshing, unique representations. Greek voodoo dolls and zombies in that particular episode as well.

DVR it for some interesting viewing.

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Categorized as Bob, Fun, Lab

Coping with tedium…

If you’ve been watching here, you’ve noticed we’ve been doing a LOT of paper mache this year.

Frankly, this is a tedious, boring task for the large part.

One needs things to keep them focused, and in the mood, to finish building whatever.

I, personally, love movies in the background.

Who wouldn’t love working on props whilst singing along with “you’ll be a dentist!”

From Halloween buildup 09

Or even “Feed Me”.

From Halloween buildup 09

An added bonus to this is Talia (3 years old) has come to LOVE watching “the monsters scary” movie. AKA Little Shop of Horrors. Outside of Kyle (who got a huge crash course in horror…), this has been the first ‘horror’ movie I’ve introduced any NUMBER of kids to. Beware anyone who drops off their kids for me to watch, they may come home afraid of plants…

Other favorites include Shrek and Shrek 2.

Talia, in fact, got to see Shrek 2 for the first time last night, and was rather upset the dragon was not in it. Oh, how the time flies whilst watching one of these and building yet another Bob…

From bob

What’s especially odd is I tend to lean towards comedies and musicals whilst building.

Ive spoken before about Clash of the Titans as well. This one is great for when I’m just not ‘feeling’ the whole concept of the yard. It puts me right back in the mood.

Others I’m currently lacking, but would love to have include Beastmaster, Krull, Legend, and Dragonslayer. Oh, crappy movies of the 80s….

A rough idea…

Been a WEE bit busy around here….

Here’s a rough idea how it’s all coming together.

I’ll be making a list of improvements needed later…

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Categorized as Bob, Fun, Lab

Oh how I loathe ceiling fans…

We’ve been doing some minor work around the house this week.

Among them was installing new ceiling fans. A job I find particularly annoying for some reason. Something about holding this while you wire that and contort this over here…

Anyhow, in part due to this loathing, I set my eyes on the second fan I had taken down. I have my mind set on several pieces of lab equipment to go along with Bob this year. Figuring that if I’m to make these folks REALLY believe there’s tons of electricity flowing through him, it’s going to take more than a couple flashing lights and a bad sound effect, ala last year.

So, I figured on ripping out this here ceiling fan motor, and using it to EITHER turn the crank on a Wimshurst machine, or to run a Van De Graaff generator.

At the time, this was part of a 2 stage plan to bring high voltage to the lab.

But, getting TO that motor, I started staring at the case. Nice brass…evenly spaced vent holes…and inspiration struck.

It’s now a 3 stage plan. That fan case, and a barrel that’s been kicking around in the back yard are swiftly going to become a “generator”. Photos, and perhaps a how-to will soon follow.

In other news, one of Talia’s new favorite activities is to color Bob. He’s now covered in crayon doodles. Oh, sure, it’s all going to be covered by paint and corpsing later, but, like the grin, it makes me smile.

Joining in the fun, I couldn’t resist paying homage to the ORIGINAL reanimation stories, and wrote “Truth” on his forehead.

Yes, for those not catching the reference, Frankenstein is not the original. Check into the legends of the Golem. Most famously, the Golem of Prague.

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Categorized as Bob, Fun, Lab

Lagoon…

We made it down to Lagoon, and Talia got her first taste of the Dark Rides…

First was Terror Ride.

Now, Terror Ride…there is just something WRONG about it. From the beginning. The sign tilts off kilter with it’s skull and blood dripped letters…

From Halloween buildup 09

Then, there is THOSE THINGS. A witch, and a skeleton, that open and close shutters leaning out to stare at the patrons.

From Halloween buildup 09

To the two year old, this is enough to overpower even the comfort of a chocolate chip cookie…

From Halloween buildup 09

Then there is THE MURAL.

From Halloween buildup 09

There is something…OFF…about that mural. Always has been.

From Halloween buildup 09

The odd skulls, the wierd dancing guy in the background, the illogical combination of characters…something.

From Halloween buildup 09

UNFORTUNATELY. I was still learning the camera operation at this point, and we didn’t get a good video of the Terroride. They’ve changed most EVERYTHING in this one since I’ve last been, and things were coming fast and furious on sides differing from the past. The thing is even more chaotic and fast hitting than before now. We’ll get a good video next time.

Talia got off of the Terroride wanting to go find mommy, most definately not wanting to ride again. However, she happily called “bye-bye monsters” as we left, and got really upset later in the evening when I had told her we were going to go ride some monsters (Dracula’s Castle), but walked BY the Terroride. “Monsters!!!”

Next was Dracula’s Castle.

Dracula’s Castle has this darn owl out front that makes REALLY bad jokes…

And, while some of it has changed since I’ve been here, things were in the same places, so the video was easier to take.

Talia’s review:

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Categorized as Fun, Lagoon