It has been pretty busy. Sunday night Judy and I went to see the Holiday Pops at Symphony Hall. The weather was terrible (it snowed from Friday 1pm, until Sunday evening 9pm,) but we managed to get there via public transportation. The trains were running super slow, and suprisinlgly we only missed the opening piece.
One of the highlights of the evening for me was the reading of The Polar Express with the BSO playing the film soundtrack in the background. It was the first time that they incorperated this into the show. We ended up getting home around 10:45pm, and we were all in bed around mid-night.
Monday morning I had to go to work, so it was pretty rough getting up at 6am with only about 4.5 hours of sleep. The day dragged, but I managed to get through it. Yesterday dragged as well, and today we have a half day, and a Christmas Eve luncheon buffet.
We still have some last minute wrapping to do, and a very busy night. If all goes as planned, we will get to my aunts around 6-6:30pm, then head to Judy’s mom’s house around 8:30ish, and then to the 11pm Mass at St. Joseph’s in Wakefield. I hope Luke and Mary are briefed on the schedule, and will fully understand their need for 100% cooperation :o)
It’s really fun to see Mary excited about Christmas. This is really the first year that she had any understanding of what is going to happen on Christmas morning. She actually asked if we were going to have a birthday cake for Jesus. We just might!
First snow of the season here in Melrose, MA. It began Friday afternoon and continued overnight into today. It left about 12″ (give, or take.) The temperature is currently about 18° and it’s been flurrying all day long. Personally, I love the snow, heck, I choose to live in New England, so I’m not going to complain. This year I am enjoying it more so than past years because my last job required me to shovel quite a large facility (even on the weekends,) and I never had time to have fun in the snow with my children; I was usually drained from shoveling, or got home after dark. Having a new job this season, it was nice to actually have Friday, Saturday, and Sunday off, and not have to worry about the snow at all… so bring it on!
Today, Mary and I played for about an hour in our back yard making snow balls, and building mini-snowmen; the snow is really too powdery to make a big snowman. Luke napped, and mommy made us hot chocolate. Tomorrow evening Judy and I head to Boston to watch the Holiday Pops. I can’t wait!
I’m also looking forward to a two and a half day work week Christmas week, and also New Years week! WooHoo!!!
I have been waiting a long time for this one to arrive… finally it did (Exclusive #453/1000) Probably the best collectible piece that I have ever owned. The sculpt is dead on, the paint job is perfect, and the details are amazing. These pieces are quite expensive, but I got a pretty good deal on him (30% off of retail.) This one is the exclusive version, which came with a second changeable head, without his fedora hat. The statue was created by Sideshow Collectibles.
There have been some complaints about the jacket being too short. Yes… it is a tad short, but nothing to bother me. The jacket hangs fine, and although it’s not 100% accurate in length, it’s ok with me.
Another common nit-pick has been the color of the jacket. The jacket is criticized for being green. Mine actually looks gray… I’m really not seeing the green in it. I’m not exactly sure of the “actual” color of the original prop, but have read from people who have claimed to have seen the original jacket in person, that it does in-fact have a tiny bit of green in it. Once again, whether accurate, or not, it does not phase me in the least. I never really expect 100% accuracy with any collectible… none of us are perfect. However, this one screams Harrison Ford and Raiders of the Lost Ark, and that is all I need to really enjoy this piece.
Yet another issue that I have heard about, is that his flesh color is too dark. Honestly, I just don’t see it with mine. The flesh color is just right. Since these are all individually hand painted, perhaps they vary in shade… I don’t know, I guess I got a good one.
The statue is an amazing likeness of Ford as Indiana Jones, and has some of the finest detail work that I have ever seen on ANY collectible. The Idol is unbelievably realistic looking and has a very antiquated look to it. The jacket is weathered nicely, his shirt has some sweat stains, and the base is a piece of art in it’s own right.
If your a collector of Indiana Jones, there is absolutely no doubt that you MUST own this piece!
EDIT: After looking at my own photos I realized that I should have put the pouch strap over Indy’s right shoulder. This has been corrected, and he is now safe and sound in my display case… and I just can’t stop looking at him. I also put some crumbled up paper in his pouch to give it some weight, and have it look like there is something in it.
I received this email in my in box today. It was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS Sunday morning commentary. I disagree with the use of the Dr. Spock example (I really don’t believe in hitting a child,) but really love the message that Ben is trying to convey in this commentary.
My confession:
I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees, Christmas trees… I don’t feel threatened. I don’t feel discriminated against. That’s what they are: Christmas trees.
It doesn’t bother me a bit when people say, ‘Merry Christmas’ to me. I don’t think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn’t bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu . If people want a crèche, it’s just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.
I don’t like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don’t think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can’t find it in the Constitution and I don’t like it being shoved down my throat.
Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship celebrities and we aren’t allowed to worship God as we understand Him? I guess that’s a sign that I’m getting old, too. But there are a lot of us who are wondering where these celebrities came from and where the America we knew went to.
In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different: This is not intended to be a joke; it’s not funny, it’s intended to get you thinking.
Billy Graham’s daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her ‘How could God let something like this happen?’ (regarding Katrina) Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response. She said, ‘I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we’ve been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives. And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?’
In light of recent events… terrorists attack, school shootings, etc. I think it started when Madeleine Murray O’Hare complained she didn’t want prayer in our schools, and we said OK. Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school. The Bible says thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said OK.
Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn’t spank our children when they misbehave because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem. We said an expert should know what he’s talking about. And we said OK.
Now we’re asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don’t know right from wrong, and why it doesn’t bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves.
Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with ‘WE REAP WHAT WE SOW.’
Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world’s going to hell Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says. Funny how you can send ‘jokes’ through e-mail and they spread like wildfire but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing. Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace.
Are you laughing yet?
Funny how when you forward this message, you will not send it to many on your address list because you’re not sure what they believe, or what they will think of you for sending it.
Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think of us than what God thinks of us.
Pass it on if you think it has merit. If not then just discard it… no one will know you did. But, if you discard this thought process, don’t sit back and complain about what bad shape the world is in.
My Best Regards, Honestly and respectfully,
Ben Stein
Well, I got my much anticipated Gentle Giant Yoda statue today. The piece was actually due out this past April or May, but, as is the way with most Gentle Giant collectibles, he was delayed… until December.
Yoda retails for approximately $140.00 through Gentle Giants official website; however, he can be found for around $110.00 + shipping at most etailers. I was fortunate enough to grab him for about $93.00 shipped. If I wasn’t a big Yoda fan, I might actually be a little disappointed with the “bang for your buck” factor. He is basically the same dimensions of any basic bust sold by Gentle Giant that typically averages approximately $35.00 – $45.00, and even as low as $15.00 – $25.00 if you hunt around ebay and collectible forum “for sale” sections. In a lot of cases, the amount of resin material used on the Yoda statue happens to be less than most busts.
But with that out of the way, he is a very nice piece! It seems that Gentle Giant used the exact same colors, and paint application techniques as they did with their EII Yoda mini bust masterpiece. The cloak has less of a yellow tinge to it than the EII bust, but 100% accurate, in my opinion, to the original ESB Yoda costume. The pink at the bottom of his eyes really is not as obvious as the photos may imply. however, I personally would have left the pink off of the sculpt… after all, they were trying to emulate the ESB puppet, which didn’t have the “pink…” but I’m starting to show my “anal-dorkiness,” so on with the blog.
I’m ok with his expression; not too happy, not to sad (although he does seem to be starting a slight crack of a smile.) I would have gone 100% serious, but it’s really not that big of a deal (just a personal preference.) The hair, which always seems to be a car wreck on most Yoda collectibles, seems to have turned out perfect. It works well, and doesn’t stand out. The paint applications on my piece are not sloppy at all, which always seemed to me to be a curse with Gentle Giant products since 2005.
The statue is glued to the base, which might bother some. Personally, I would certainly prefer him to be detachable, but no matter… it really doesn’t bother me. As for the sculpt, I think that it is one of the better Yoda sculpts out there, but it still isn’t dead on, (which really surprises me with Gentle Giants scanning ability.) I figured that they could nail this one on the nose. Perhaps they didn’t have the aid of the scanning this time around and molded him from scratch. Non-the-less it is certainly a “close enough” sculpt that should please any Yoda fanatic.
The only downside that I can see to this piece is really the price. It really is quite unreasonable, and one really has to question what Gentle Giant was thinking when they priced this bad boy. Still, if you can find him for a bargain, or you just love the piece and don’t mind spending an average of $110.00 for less than a mini bust, go for it. It really is a nice piece when you eliminate the price factor from the equation.
Melrose had it’s annual Christmas festival this weekend, “Home for the Holidays.” Unfortunately it seems to be getting watered down more and more every year. Still, the kids had a blast seeing Santa Clause ride in on the fire engine on Friday night, and get their picture taken with him… they are still a little bashful of Santa, and maybe next year Judy and I won’t have to sit in on the picture.
Saturday, we took to the streets and headed down to the Highlands to go to the petting zoo. Again, last year they had camels, sheep, llamas and goats. This year they had rabbits, chickens, and ducks. However, the plus to this was that the kids could enter into the pens and interact with the animals. Mary was all for it, but Luke was hesitant, and really didn’t want anything to do with it… up close that is. He enjoyed it more from a distance.
On our way to the petting zoo, we saw Santa again, accompanying people on a wagon ride. We stopped to wave and say “hi.” It was about 35 degrees, which made for a nice wintry feel, but not too cold. Last year I believe it was in the low teens at noon time and we were completely frozen!
The kids got to make tee shirts at Brad Hutchinson Real Estate, and Mary made a reindeer antler hat at the YMCA. For Luke, the most interesting part of the day was the train set in the window of Whittemore Hardware. Daddy will certainly be getting one for Luke sometime in the near future… probably more for me than him :o)
I was surfing around the internet and came across some pretty cool “Speed Painting” videos on You Tube. The one I chose to showcase is a rendition of Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones. These cyber paintings are created entirely with Adobe Photoshop; an extremely popular image editing program used by professional graphic designers and photographers. You have to watch this video to believe just how far technology has come in the graphic arts department. There were many videos on the topic to be found on You Tube, but for some reason I enjoyed this one the most of all the ones I viewed. Credit for this digital painting goes to Steven Maquire. Enjoy!
It has been pretty busy. Sunday night Judy and I went to see the Holiday Pops at Symphony Hall. The weather was terrible (it snowed from Friday 1pm, until Sunday evening 9pm,) but we managed to get there via public transportation. The trains were running super slow, and suprisinlgly we only missed the opening piece.
Melrose had it’s annual Christmas festival this weekend, 
Padawan Dad 