Characters of Deadwood: Mr Wu

I am starting a new feature here. This is going to be quick (less than 1 hr) sketches of
characters from one of my favorite shows, "Deadwood". Since the show had such a huge cast, I have a rather large ensemble to draw from. The first I am presenting is "Mr. Wu", boss of the area known as "Chink's Alley". JUst don't end up in his pig pen...

Van of the Week: Starfire

Wow. Verily I am sucking at posting lately. I just can't seem to get it together enough to pop in here much any more. I guess real life takes precedence sometimes eh? Well, if anyone is still reading this, here is another featured van of mine. This was taken at the Nats this year in Ill. What we have here is the van "Starfire". It is a mid-Dodge Maxivan, which has had several major modifications done to the body (such as the chop above the front seats), thus landing it in the class of a radical custom. As a matter of fact it is the oldest surviving radical custom van still on the road. In the seventies it graced the covers and interiors of many of the top van magazines, some of which were laid out on the floor as a display. It was truly a cool thing to see this old survivor in person, and knowing it's still out there truckin' gives me hope that mine will be around for a long time to come. Enjoy the pics.

What I was doing 10 years ago today

Today is the 10th anniversary of the day I closed on my house. I can't believe it's been 10 years! Damn I feel old, but that's beside the point. I can't believe I was a 23 yr old home owner. That is virtually unheard of now. Anyway, I have had a great past decade in the house, and I wouldn't want to live anywhere else. I love this house.
Another thing I love is being a Mainer. Don't know why, but I get a little gooofy about it sometimes. Anyway, to celebrate the event we had a little dinner here today and it consisted of 10 lobsters, potato salad, apple pie (I made last night from apples off one of the trees out back), and blueberry scones. Also I had Sea Dog Blueberry Ale, and Shipyard Pumpkinhead Ale. Can't get much more "Maine" that this folks. (Unless i threw some clams or mussels in the mix) ...actually there was homeade clam dip too, and it was delicious.


I thought I had a decent picture of the outside of the house, but nope. Maybe next time.

Happy (late) Hobbit Day!

OK, I missed it again this year. Hobbit Day is celebrated on Sept. 22 and is the birthday of Bilbo Baggins, and the day that Frodo and Sam set out from the Shire on their quest to destroy the ring of power. In celebration of that....

Here's Leonard Nimoy singing "The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins"

Drainage Fail

I just saw this on Failblog, and I don't think I have laughed this hard in a long time as when I saw this.

Van of the Week: Pirates of the Caribean

Ok, enough of the ELO related posts (although I can't promise we won't visit Jeff's garden again sometime...) Back to the "Van of the Week" feature. This week I am featuring my new favorite van, a 3rd generation Ford named "Pirates of the Caribean".
This is an old show van from the late 70's and 80's that has had a recent exterior facelift/theme. While the theme before was a nautical one (my favorite!) the new owners decided to put a very expensive and expertly excecuted mural on the exterior featuring the "Pirates of the Caribean" trilogy. Holy shit did the level of skill on this blow me away! To the pictures mates, for they tell it better than I can...

While the exterior of the van features quite a bit of custom woodwork such as tail light bezels, side marker lights (which were super cool!), running boards, and frames for the bay windows...

to me the real focal point was the amazing paint work that was done. Look at the faces of the main characters! Often times when photographing vehicles, they come out looking better than in person, but believe me, this was just as stunning from 6 inches away.

The side marker lights as I mentioned earlier, were filled in with wood, and little "lanterns" protruded from them. They had a piece of colored glass in them for a lens, which projected the light when it is illuminated.

Inside the van, the wood work was no less stunning. Expertly done and finished off in satin varnish, you feel like you are in a high end yacht (which I have been in a few of, and trust me on this one, they got it right) or in a cathedral. Unfortunately I couldn't get a good shot of the rear of the interior, but there was a settee across the back that was just amazing. It also features a rear mounted camera which was displayed on a monitor that dropped down from the headliner.

"Davy Jones I presume... ?"(not the Monkee :) ) Also a good pic of one of the side marker lights.

I was trying to get a good picture of the battle with boat and beastie, but in this one you can make out the edge of the rear settee.

Running boards that had some scroll like deatils ran the length of this van. Again check out the mural on the door. Beautiful work that! (don't look too close tho or you'll see me in the reflection!)

The driver/passenger seat matches the rear settee. Hand made capitans chairs, with lift up arm rests cap off the cockpit of this vessel. Also an incredible center console finishes the top of the doghouse off.

The rear features a portrait of none other than Cap'n Jack Sparrow!

Here is an overall worms eye view of how the van appeared on the show field.

There you have it. "Pirates of the Caribean". One of the cleanest, best themed show vans I have seen. When I think of a full blown custom survivior, this is it. I hope you have enjoyed seeing it as much as I enjoyed presenting it. Until next time when I will be featuring a radical custom, later.

JEFF'S SECRET GARDEN WITH JEFF LYNNE and Paul McCartney

I love ELO, and I have to say this is one of the funniest things I have come across in a while. The other viedos by this person are worth a watch. The "Jeff Lynne Storyteller" series are a riot.

Enjoy!