Geeky Artefacts at the EMP

This guy needs no introduction!

During my Summer adventures I took my family to the EMC Museum in Seattle, and what a treasure trove of geeky goodness it is!  Among its other exhibits it has original props and costumes from a large range of classic SciFi and Horror movies.  Here are some of the highlights:

The original light sabres

War of the Worlds, 1953 style

Aliens fans will recognise these immediately

Deckard's Police Cruiser from Blade Runner

Deckard's "PKD Service Revolver"

Zhora's costume

Pris's costume

5th Element props

The original Klingon D7 Battlecruiser model

BSG fans will be most familiar with this dress

Ovian from the original BSG

Viper Pilot costume

The Spice must flow...

I shall not fear, fear is the mind killer...

Discovery 1 from 2001: A Space Odyssey

Space weapons and zap guns - how many do you recognise?

The Creature from the Black lagoon

Zombie Werewolf - I knew they were real!

Conan's Atlantean Sword

Weapons from Lord of the Rings

...and your father smelled of elderberries!

Fans of the Princess Bride know who has 6 fingers on his right hand

One of Tyrion Lannister's outfits

We all really loved seeing these goodies fro our favourite shows.  And then the Museum had a temporary exhibit of Star Wars costumes...more to follow on that!

http://www.empmuseum.org

A Busy Summer!

Wow, what a busy 6 or 7 weeks its been this summer!  You may have seen from my recent posts that Ive been catching up on reading novels rather than textbooks, which has been nice.

We've visited Seattle, taken a cruise up to Alaska, been whale watching and dog mushing, driven through New York State to see Niagra Falls, drove through Ontario and Quebec in Canada where we visited friends in Ottawa, went white water rafting and zip lining, visited Montreal, drove back through Amish country and the Ariondack mountains.  Got home from that just in time for the Lad and I to go off to a Summer Scout camp on a lake.  Busy times indeed - think I need a rest now!

I managed to hijack the itinerary a little, notably to visit the Canadian War Musuem and the Saratoga Battlefield.  I think my family has gotten off rather lightly in the past year so they indulged me (briefly) with a smile!

The Saratoga Monument

Victory Woods is where the besieged British Army surrendered  after their battlefield defeat

Momument to local militia and soldiers from all wars

The path into Victory Woods, the British position which was besieged and ultimately surrendered

New Pike & Shot rules under way!

The Pikeman's Lament, a new addition to the expanding Osprey war-games rules series by Dan Mersey (of Lion Rampart fame and others).  While this will be of limited use to our micro scale gaming, this promises to rejuvenate a bit of interest in the period which is always a good thing!

http://merseybooks.blogspot.com/2015/08/new-pike-shot-rules-under-way.html

Luftwaffe Jet Reconnaissance of the Invasion Area

The Beachhead at Arromanches from 11,000 metres

Today is an anniversary of a very different kind - the first operational mission of a jet plane.

Invasion area photography from the mission - time 1632hrs

No, not a fighter or combat mission - a reconnaissance mission by a Luftwaffe Arado 234 over the Normandy invasion area.

Erich Sommer in 1942

The pilot was Erich Sommer, who emigrated to Australia after the war and lived down the street from a friend of mine.  He tells me "Erich Sommer was an acquaintance with whom my son formed a friendship based on their common flying interests and they were both glider pilots. Erich lived in Adelaide after the war.  He continued flying until in his seventies. For Erich's eightieth birthday his daughter paid for him to have his final flight. I saw many of his original movies taken from his Arado on combat missions."

After his Normandy missions, Eric conducted recon sorties over SE UK and then London and the Thames estuary in late 1944.

Eric died in 2005 at the Age of 93 and here is the transcript of a television interview he did in May 2004.  http://www.abc.net.au/gnt/history/Transcripts/s1110428.htm

Eric Sommer in 2005

The only surviving Arado 234 Jet recon aircraft at the Udvar-Hazy museum, Washington DC

http://aerostories.free.fr/events/juvin/