Pandora's Briefcase: 12-ounce Figgy Fizz Bottle Cap.

For those unfamiliar with the cryptic post name, a bit of background:



Much like Bert's bottle cap collection, Pandora's Briefcase has had a small space reserved within for a special something that I have searched high and low for.  I could find a number of candidates on eBay, but they were either overpriced, or postage was set astronomically high, or both! So I searched further afield, and finally found what I was looking for in what I thought was a somewhat unlikely place.

Etsy.

In my little world Etsy means handmade knits, arts and crafts, sewing patterns and the like. However, a google-search found what I was looking for in the Etsy shop named Savanteer . On the virtual shop-front an Announcement is displayed:

I love vintage! I love vintage books and ephemera, pottery, kitchenware, clothing and accessories, record albums and everything else under the sun. This store is very diverse, so if you have something special you are looking for, please feel free to use the shop categories section to your left.

"This store is very diverse"... diverse enough to have a 12-ounce Figgy Fizz Bottle Cap? Perhaps not. But it had something better:

Yes! Finally I have a reel of Recording Wire! (3600 feet equates to about 1.1 kilometres!)

The reel itself appears to be made of cast aluminium.

The wire is almost as fine as a human hair, and is tied to a length of plastic leader "film" for ease of winding onto the transfer reel.

The plastic leader also keeps the wire from disastrously un-spooling from its reel! 

Can anyone make out the pencil writing on the back? I'm thinking it is:

*Something* - Bee

Garden - *Something*

Anyone?

The service I received from the proprietor was nothing short of amazing! The postage price was more than reasonable, unlike some eBay traders who grossly inflate shipping costs, and it arrived well packaged with a personal note inside! So if you are looking for vintage books and ephemera, pottery, kitchenware, clothing and accessories, record albums and everything else under the sun, check out Savanteer! (I promised a plug, after receiving such wonderful service!

Pandora's Briefcase: Found in Pandora's Emporium

This is The Emporium in Sheffield, Tasmania, into which I ventured gamely last week!


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It is a fascinating place, full of "One Man's Trash is Another Man's..." kind of stuff, and surprisingly doesn't seem to have been completely stripped of all its good stuff, leaving only the dross. That seems to be all too often the case in the few bric-a-brac stores I have visited. If there was anywhere in Tassie that would have a spool of Recording Wire (my current wish-list item for Pandora's Briefcase), it would be here.  After perusing The Emporium's wares for too long, I finally asked the lady at the counter.  After explaining what it was I was after, she said "No, I haven't got one of those, but I do have... " and pointed down through the cabinet in front of me...

Gauge Showing amount of unexposed film in feet; in this case 50 , meaning a full unexposed  magazine!

A tab at the top of the magazine opens and closes the exposure window at the front. ("closed" left, "open" right) You can also see the sprocket holes in the film when the window is in the "open" position.

According to Kodak's Website, in 1936 Kodak introduced a new home movie camera - the 16 mm Magazine CINE-KODAK Camera - that used film in magazines instead of rolls. What is so cool about this find is that it is an unexposed cartridge, which is a slightly odd find as my thinking would be that these things were quite expensive, and the cost of purchase included development of the exposed film and return postage.  So you would think that you would make sure you got your money's worth by actually using it, and getting it developed!  The only thing I can think of is that stores that carried stock would have been stuck with them when Kodak stopped supporting the format.  This would also be pretty much the only way (other than with films that had been exposed, but never developed), to get your hands on the actual cartridge, which remained the property of Kodak and wasn't returned with the developed film.  I'm just hoping they don't ask for this one back, because I have become very attached to it, and I paid a whole ten dollars for it!

The "Develop Before" date is December 1941, so it would have been made towards the beginning of production, so who knows what the story is behind this wonderful find!

Eye of newt, and toe of frog, and essence of Kimba!

I am very hesitant when it comes to tracking down and viewing childhood television favourites. I have been stung far too many times, where I'm so disappointed and left numbed with the glaring realization that "That was Rubbish! What on earth did I ever see in that show!" Mork & Mindy was a prime example, as was F-Troop.  It would have been far better to live with the memory of enjoying these shows as a child, and not look back and have those shows turned to pillars of salt.  There are many shows where I have longed to "feel" how I felt watching them when I was young, but now can't bring myself to ruin that memory of a feeling.

There have been those odd occasions, however, where a newer show has come along and I have found myself hit in the face with a duplication of feeling, if that makes sense. This happened quite recently when I crumbled under terrible peer-group pressure from fellow COA bloggers, Lee and Dan, and tracked down the first season of Avatar: The Last Airbender. It was only a few episodes in when I recognized the feelings and emotions I was experiencing whilst watching Avatar were very reminiscent of how I recall feeling while watching Kimba the White Lion as a child! The feelings I had for Kimba were ones I didn't want to risk ruining by revisiting; and yet here I was feeling them again! But there was more; just like Avon's Black Suede Cologne - with its rich, smooth scent with sweet mossy tones and spicy accents against a background of amber, woods & musk, Avatar  has spicy accents of Monkey, another "Memories of Fondness" show that is still in the "Don't Revisit" basket. So maybe I no longer need to revisit either Kimba or Monkey! Perhaps it's like the "If you like Drakkar Noir®, you'll love our New York Nights 2oz Spray Cologne" idea, continuing the somewhat tenuous men's fragrance analogy - it is something different, but smells very similar. For a while, at least!

I recently posted at the COA about an imagined Blake's 7/Doctor Who crossover episode; what I didn't mention was that I haven't seen any Blake's 7 since my early teens!  I think it would have to be on the top of my "I'm too afraid to revisit!" list. Fortunately there have been some other more recent shows that have "a vibrant mix of grasses, spicy coriander, and a small band of outlaws, under a figurehead leader, leading a rebellion against a tyrannical regime!"- the essence of Blake's 7! Firefly and Farscape, for instance, have a rich herbal blend of Blake's 7 infused within them.

So far, these shows have been enough to allow me to feel much as I did for TV shows lost. And so far, it has been enough. But I still have that nagging, gnawing thought at the back of my mind. In reality, which is the Drakkar Noir®, and which is the New York Nights ?

Therin lies the rub.

Hell, That's a Dam Fine Piece of Engineering!

Back when I was thirteen I, with 20,000 others, marched through the streets of Hobart chanting "No Dams" in what was then Australia's largest ever environmental rally, protesting against the construction of the Franklin Dam. Due to my upbringing I have developed a great love for Tasmania's wild bush... and yet somewhere deep inside me, I think I have Engineer blood in me...











On an overcast, showery day in Sheffield last week we decided on a whim to visit the Devil's Gate Dam. Just as we arrived in the car park the rain stopped and the sun broke through. We couldn't have planned it better; as we walked down to the viewing platform the sound of rushing water became louder and louder. And then the dam came into view- in spill with massive volumes of water plummeting eighty-four meters and the only-recently-revealed sun at just the right angle to produce swirling multiple rainbows in the spray.

It was an absolute wonder to behold, and took my breath away!  I love the rainforests and the bush, but when I stand near something like this, all I can do is go "Wow!"
I have to admit it is moments like these that I question my "Greenie-ness".

It is an amazing feat of engineering, using a non-polluting renewable, free energy source.  I'm certainly not saying we should dam every river in the state, and there are some river systems that should never be touched, but I'm also coming round to thinking (and I'm about to be attacked from all angles here!) that maybe there shouldn't be a knee-jerk "No Dams" reaction every time a new hydro-electric scheme is proposed. Maybe. Or maybe I should get one of those Teen-Vamps to suck the engineering blood out of me.

However, I also think there must be a much more efficient, cost-effective method of harnessing the power that flows through our rivers.  Like this, for example. But you don't get a big, stonking, awe-inspiring dam doing that.

I'm so torn.

Just thinking...

Pandora's Briefcase: Who is this Shorty anyway?!?

Sorry it has been so long, but a comment on Lee and Dan's Young Guns II Midnight Movie Club podcast prompted me to blow the dust of the ol' briefcase, twirl the tumblers on the combination lock, and extract this little number from its bowels. So to speak.

Some of you may saying, "ahhh, that's just the soundtrack to the movie Get Shorty, on a vinyl thirty-three and a third Double Sided LP!" but alas, you would be wrong. You would be right on the double-sided bit, though... "but a double-sided what?", you may ask!

The bottom left hand corner of the cover is a bit of a give-away:

Yes, a LaserDisc! I won't get too bogged down in the technical specifics (the Wikipedia entry is a pretty good read); the movie runs for 106 minutes and is recorded in CLV format (60 minutes a side) meaning that for the majority of users it required manually flipping the disk over midway through. The disc is quite heavy and is about twice the thickness of a DVD. It is very shiny!

For anyone rich enough to own a decent LaserDisc collection, storage must have been a nightmare! I know I have a centimetre ruler scale on these images, but to really put it into perspective here is the other side of the disc with a DVD on top of it for comparison:

As for the movie? I have no idea - I've never seen it!  This is the first of many items contained in Pandora's Briefcase that have contents that are a mystery, as I have no means of playing them! Sure, I could probably rent the DVD, but to be honest (a) I'm just not a DeVito fan, and (b) I'm even less of a Travolta fan!

I really wish now that I had a copy of Young Guns II on LaserDisc instead!

Perhaps this is Pandora...

No, this isn't a Pandora's Briefcase entry, but I just had to post this bit of artwork. It was done by one of our four-year-olds on a megasketcher, and I just discovered it on the lounge-room floor.  I love how Laura sees and portrays the world, especially people!

(I have increased the contrast, as megasketchers are quite grey in colour, the light was poor, and I didn't use the flash on my phone due to glare) 

Pandora's Briefcase: Who ya gonna call?

I thought I'd try to start off strongly with the first item from Pandora's Briefcase.

This is a copy of the limited Ghostly White edition of Ray Parker Jnr's Ghostbusters theme song.  It was released in 1984 by Arista, and dwells within Pandora's Briefcase not because of its cool colour, or its more general outright coolness.  Its presence in Pandora's Briefcase is due to the fact that it is a fine example of a 12" 45rpm vinyl single.

Yes, a fine example indeed. Don't you think?

Pandora's Briefcase

A chance mention of one of my more obscure hobbies months ago to Lee at  quityourdayjob.com.au has come back to haunt me.  He recently mentioned the hobby again - I must admit to being very impressed he remembered - and this has prompted me to consider blogging about it.  It might prompt me to actually furnish this somewhat spartan blog with a few more regular entries!  We'll see.  


For those who know me it will only reinforce the opinion that I'm a bit of a nut-case. That's life. You may actually know already what is contained within... this briefcase:

I'm thinking that each week I'll open up the ol' briefcase, and select an item from within to write a short piece about.  It will no doubt be dull and boring... but that's just how I'm rolling at the mo!


So what do you think? What lurks within?




Creepy, crawly, slimy things, that stick on to your skin... Horrid beasts with tentacles, that want to pull you in... Squirmy worms, slugs and snails, that lie there in a goo... They'll wait down there forever, 'till they get their hands on you... Stay away from that trapdoor, 'Cos there's something down there...

12 of 12 , June 2010

Today was doomed from the start as far as "exciting 12 of 12 day" was concerned.  The weather was cold and overcast, which, as a general rule, equals "a day inside".  With one of our four-year-olds running on only half a heart she has a nasty habit of going purple/blue on days like this - due to the cold, and her insistence on trying her hardest to keep up with anyone else.

So it was yet another day inside...

Photo 1: Today's Secret Word

I checked in on my gazillion friends and went through my daily ritual of presenting them with a new "secret word". Why I started this, I do not know, but I have tried to ensure that they are not just words plucked from the internet, but have some meaning to me or have been heard by me in the past twenty-four hours.  Today's secret word was Turducken.

It created a bit of a stir, but allowed me to discover the wonder that is rôti sans pareil, and this wonderful link!

Photo 2: The Chat

So somehow my good friend Gorbak managed to get drawn into the culinary discussion, and with him being in the US at the moment, we were soon typing away on Gmail chat.  He then suggested audio chat, which allowed me to christen my new Microsoft LX3000 headset, and then video chat, which I had never done successfully before!  It was great to catch up, as he has been a very busy lad lately. Must serve him up some five cup salad when next we meet up!

Photo 3: The last of the crop

Whilst speaking of things culinary, we harvested the last of our corn today!  Considering it was planted as a whim, and way late, we did pretty well from our eight plants:

Picture 4: Field of Dreams

However, as there was on over-abundance of Dead Baseball Players that kept emerging from our crop, and an under-abundance of actual corn, we ploughed under our field today!

Photo 5: I'm a Lumberjack...

I cut kindling from the wood stack...

Picture 6: ... but I'm not OK!

... and drew blood in the process!

Picture 7: Kid Wrangling

Wrangle: To quarrel noisily or angrily; bicker. or, To herd (horses or other livestock)

Or all of the above!

 With the floor strewn with toys, you would think they could each find individual items to amuse themselves with, wouldn't you?!?  It also concerns me the number of people in Emily's picture! (And, yes, she did write her own name!)

Picture 8: The opposite of wiping your Palms.

I managed to placate the two eldest boys by installing a few more games onto their Z22 Palms, including a much demanded Tron Lightcycle game!  They love their Tron!

Picture 9: Feeding Faces

The ravenous hordes were duly fed lunch, and I helped myself to a Raspberry Jam, Banana, and Sultana Sandwich. nom nom nom...

Picture 10: Decisions, Decisions...

I spent way too much time considering and pondering and mulling and ... well, you know how it is. Don't you?

Picture 11: What?!? They need feeding again?!?! 

I guess they did!

After getting the rugrats fed, and bathed, and into bed...

Picture 12: The Idiot Box

Finally a bit of peace and ... What are you doing back up stairs?!? Get back into BED! 

Sorry... a bit of peace and ... What NOW?!?

Sorry... a bit of peace and quiet, and a touch of Monster Moves on SBS1.

Well, that was very dull!  May it be a very long time before the next Saturday twelfth of the month! And no, you can't have that half-hour of your life back!

Cheers!

My thoughts on Where the Wild Things Are.

Wow! My first post in ages, and it still echoes in here! But I just wanted to document this.

So I finally got around to watching "Where the Wild Things Are" the other night. My reaction to it was to post on Twitter and Facebook: Please don't let Spike Jonze near "In the Night Kitchen"!

I suspected this would raise a reaction from my good friend Rob, who had seen it at the cinema and seemed most impressed with it. It did get a reaction: Wow! Methinks you just saw a very different movie to the one I saw a few weeks ago... I so wish I'd underhyped it...

My response: Or Spike read a very different book to the one that was a favourite of mine from childhood, that I have read a zillion times and could recite off by heart, and have the images of many smiling Max's embossed in my mind.

My "place" "where the wild things are" was a place of escape, my "happy place" for want of a better term. That was not a "happy place"!

Rob then responded with: But doesn't it always start out fun/happy, until someone gets hurt? That theme was obviously in the film... Is it not in the book too?

I probably didn't answer his question, but this was my answer (noting that I live in Hobart, Tasmania):

I caught a bus yesterday, and asked the driver for a ticket to the "city"; the bus had "Hobart" on it, and I was fairly confident that the driver therefore knew where I wanted to go - a city that I'm fairly familiar with. Sure there are still places within it that I am quite unfamiliar with, but when the driver stopped, I was thankfully in familiar territory.

There was, I guess, a chance that I could have ended up in Hobart, Oklahoma. It seems a nice enough place, although local government funding for the local library system, in fiscal years 2001-2002, was below the national average. Most people there speak the same language as they do in the Hobart I know. So could I be happy in Hobart, Oklahoma? Sure, I reccon so. But it wouldn't be the Hobart I know and love. It would always be a different Hobart.

There were whole swathes of this movie that I loved. The cinematography was glorious, I found the soundtrack smart, Max played the role he was given brilliantly, and the Jim Henson team did sterling work with the wild things.

But, as Hobart Oklahoma is not "my" Hobart, so Jonze's world of "Where the Wild Things Are" is not the one I grew up with. One was a place of therapy (A brief Time Out), the other a place where, when Max left, EVERYONE needed therapy (including me!), or so I felt! Perhaps if I were not so familiar (or not at all) with the book, I could have raved about the film. I don't know.

For what it's worth, these two reviews reflect well how I feel, but put it a lot better:

Here and
here

Not sure if that makes sense, but that's how I feel. Did I hate the movie? No. But boy his "place" was a lot more depressing than "my" place!

IMHO, this would have made a beautiful short film. The story didn't need padding out and filled with depressed creatures, just to make a "Feature Film"! I would have had the scene "That very night in Max's room a forest grew and grew- and grew until his ceiling hung with vines and the walls became the world all around..." - that would have been more "real" to me. I would have been more faithful to the book, which didn't need expanding...

I want my "place" "Where the Wild Things Are" Back! To steal a phrase from a bizarrely similarly-themed film "There's no place like home!"

So what film adaptations have worked well/badly for you?