Archive for April, 2009
New ARC Addition: Powerbook G3 (Wallstreet)
Thanks to my pal, John, I found a box of goodies on my office chair the other day. Amidst the external ZIP drive, some cables, a couple of uncommon adapters, a cable modem, and other tech tidbits, I also found a working, in decent shape, and very much free laptop for my Apple Retro Collection. (If curious, this is what the Wallstreet looks like closed.) Sure, it’s not the Pismo, but it does have that elegant form that all of the Powerbook G3s had, plenty of plugs in the back, and some worthy resolution/screen size. I’ve been wanting one of these in my collection for awhile now, and was disappointed at the most recent Flea trip to find three of them in deplorable condition — missing keys, gouged screens, etc. I like to think this acquisition is my reward for having to endure such terrible visions of vintage tech abuse last week. So, thank you, John. Your pact has been sealed.
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Legos, Music, and Baskets Full of Lotion
TWO Diabologue posts involving Legos in the SAME week? Could you possibly be so lucky? Well, I say yes, indeedy-do.
If curious about the audio, it’s purportedly from an actual musical based on Silence of the Lambs — appropriately titled Silence: The Musical, no doubt inspired by another well-known movie-to-musical adaptation of bloody proportions. (And, if it matters, the video above is probably NSFW.)
No commentsLinkdump: 4/27/09
For when a standard 404 error page simply will not do…- Russian kids have it great — okay, maybe not exactly great, but check out their marvelously creepy playgrounds.
- Death to all popped-collar fratbags!
- When your RealDoll is feeling a little “worn out” over time, you might want to call in the Love Doctor.
- KISS has put their meat into many mouths over their career. Now, taste the sizzling carnal goodness of The KISS Burger!
- Beyond The Valley of the Dolls… as interpreted through the Tarot.
- Some movies can be summed up briefly, if not sometimes inappropriately.
LaVey Mosaic Created Out Of Legos
Church of Satan member “Torrent” from Germany constructed this Lego mosaic of CoS founder, Anton Szandor LaVey. From the artist…
I started the mosaic early in November 2008 by developing plans before purchasing a single piece. The original plan called for 12300 pieces, but was later scaled down to 9228 after I decided the other 3k would just be overkill and would in turn make the project entirely too large. It is still quite large in its current form. The mosaic is comprised of nine 32×32 base plates, each of which holds 1024 1×1 bricks. The colors used were white, light bluish gray, dark bluish gray, black and red. It took about 5 months to complete due to delays in shipping and difficulty obtaining supplies; furthermore, I could only work on it during evenings and weekends because of work and college.
More detailed shots of the process can be seen at the online photo album of the artist’s Undercroft profile page.
No commentsThe Fall of the House of LoCaHD?
Pic taken by a friend of a friend on 20 April. I’d seen the statue live in its usual form on 12 April (and snapped a shot of it along with Scott and Amber from The Lindbergh Baby on that day), so this is certainly very sudden. Could it be a makeover? Or perhaps a dismantling? Maybe all of the attention given to it by two very evil people drew a certain kind of attention to the eatery that the restaurant owner wants to quickly distance himself or herself from? So many questions. Anyone have answers?
1 commentNew ARC Additions: 4/24/09
from left to right: Macintosh Classic | Power Macintosh G4 (Graphite) | Performa 550
See images of these and all of the other machines in my Apple Retro Collection.
No commentsMarilyn Chambers (1952-2009)
Two of the earliest pornos I’d seen as a teenager were Behind The Green Door and Insatiable, both starring the one and only Marilyn Chambers. I taped them from copies I’d gotten from a video store down the street from my apartment building — one that didn’t seem to mind renting smut to a kid in his mid-teens and who looked about 4 years younger than he really was. Much of the movie porn floating around the video rental market at the time was the ’70s stuff so a lot of that constitutes my introduction to erotic entertainment, and might have even had a hand in the formation of my ideals pertaining to feminine beauty. There was certainly quite the cast of sin-ematic starlets from the 1970s up to the mid-1980s that ran through my fantasies, including Shauna Grant, Ginger Lynn, Tracy Lords, and others. Among them, Marilyn was certainly a big part of my awakening, and without a doubt a particular favorite of mine during those adolescent moments of — ahem — release. With her recent death, I’m reminded how far the adult film industry has come (so to speak), how sexual values have progressed beyond previous repressions (as it should be), and how Miss Chambers was front and center for all of that. As such, I raise at least one body part of mine in salute to Marilyn, and sadly say that she left this world far too soon. Hail Marilyn!
MSNBC: Adult film star Marilyn Chambers dies at 56
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M.I.T. Flea: April 2009
Although it blows my mind that Wikipedia, as of this posting, has NO entry for it, The M.I.T. Flea Market — also known as Hamfest, Swapfest, or The Flea — is an open-air electronics flea market happening at the parking lot and parking garage near Albany and Main Street in Cambridge, Massachusetts every third Sunday between April and October of every year. In addition to vintage radios, electronics parts, and old stereos, there is often a wide selection of computers. The reason I go, of course, is to pick up old Macs for my collection.
As a sort of fringe benefit, the people-watching at this event is also an attraction, albeit an unadvertised one. At the very first Flea of this year (that is, this past Sunday), I even managed to almost get kicked out for not having a stamp on my hand that they are supposed to give me. The snarky kid at the entrance even spoke of having me “forcibly ejected” in that tone that only years of teen nerd abuse could create. I also had a fun conversation with a gentlemen in this 50s who sold me one of the three Macs I purchased (and will post about later this week). The talk went something like this…
Mark: Yeah, I’m getting rid of this machine from my own Mac museum.
MGP: Oh, really. That sounds like something to see. I collect as well.
Mark: How many machines do you have?
MGP: As of today, 25 Macs.
Mark: Oh. You definitely have more Macs than I do.
I suppose this means I have a Mac museum, even if I only consider it a decent collection. “Museum” status, if such really exists, is something I’d sooner consider with a collection over, say, 50 or 75 machines. One day.
Of course, there are always the vendors who charge absurd prices for Macs. Sometimes, I let it go. Other times, I tell them how deluded and insane they are. One Asian dealer definitely not native to this country tried to impress upon me the collectability of his indigo clamshell iBook G3 and that it merited a $125 pricetag. He goes on to state that it’s worth as much as $300 on eBay — a patently ridiculous price. I told him he’d either get $25 or a “go fuck yourself” from me. Guess which one he received? Needless to say that from my first check at 9am to my last check at closing, these uneducated gents sold absolutely nothing on their table, which is a common story with these price-gougers.
And these types often keep bringing the same stuff back, Flea after Flea; most of the time, of shoddy quality and exorbitant cost — like selling tiny boxes of human excrement for $200. Why, oh, why? Anyhoo, I almost feel like I know this tangerine clamshell iBook like an old acquaintance, given its regular appearance. I see it and I say to myself, “oh, there you are.” I’d almost buy it if it weren’t for the missing orange plastic Apple logo on the outside lid, and my disinterest in scouring and waiting forever for that incredibly specific part to appear on eBay.
Lost out on a G4 iMac because I did the rounds too slowly. The guy who nabbed it got it for $75 — a steal. Still cringing over that one.
So, it was a pretty good trip, including some great Indian food, a fancy hotel, the usual raid of Micro Center, the likewise usual acquisition of chocolate from Trader Joe’s, and non-stop entertainment from vendors and customers alike at the Flea. And I don’t even seem to mind the sunburn on my forehead. Pics from this Flea as well as the October 2008 one (and, later, future ones) can be found at my newest Flickr set. Make Magazine covered the event and their write-up and YouTube videos (yes, that quickly) are here. And some random person I don’t know took pics from the exact same event and they are located here.
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