Dude spends $4000 on a life-sized War Machine costume!

Last week this blog joined others in oggling with admiration a full-sized costume of a Covenant Elite from the Halo video games.

Then two days ago I shared with y'all the "impressive... most impressive!" video of a German Star Wars fan's General Grievous costume.

If you have yet to be astonished at the costuming creativity that is apparently running rampant through the land, then this should drop your jaw to the floor: Anthony Le's full-sized, fully automated set of War Machine armor! That photo on the right? That's not a still from Iron Man 2: that is Anthony fully suited up.

Meanwhile I'm sitting here, looking at my humble Jedi Knight costume, looking back at the ingenuity of these other outfits, a single tear trickling down my cheek...

(Okay someday, Lord willing, I will at last put together that movie-quality Boba Fett costume that I've always dreamed of, muhahahahaha!)

According to the story at GeekTyrant, Anthony spent $4000 on his War Machine suit, and took him but one month to construct! It's made from high-impact urethane and held together with 1,500 rivets. The helmet was sculpted from clay and then liquid resin used to cast the finished item (with servo motors making the faceplate open and close like in the Iron Man movies). Add some LEDs to the chest and a motor to make the machine gun spin, and Anthony was all set!

But why just look at the pictures when you can see War Machine in full glorious action? Behold the video, true believers!

Words fail to describe just how glorious a piece of work that is. Bigtime props to Anthony Le for his hard work and cleverness!

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Oldest known illustrated Bible discovered in Ethiopia

I've long been fascinated by the history of Christianity in places like India and Ethiopia. There exist today in western India congregations of the faithful that claim - with some evidence - to have been founded by the apostle Thomas in the years following the earthly ministry of Jesus. And then there is Ethiopia: a land where Christianity is said to have arrived courtesy of the eunuch chronicled in the Book of Acts, chapter 8.

Add another page to the intriguing history of the faith in that land long known as Aksum: the world's oldest surviving illustrated Christian Bible has been found in an Ethiopian monastery. The Garima Gospels, printed on goatskin and written in the ancient Ge'ez language, is also said to be the oldest surviving book anywhere that still has the original binding.

So how old is this thing? The Garima Gospels have been dated back at around the Fourth Century A.D.

Sixteen hundred years old. And the illustrations - depicting the writers Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, as well as the earliest known Christian rendering of a building (possibly the Temple of Jerusalem) - are still as vivid and colorful as when they were first drawn.

This is turning into quite an exciting time for biblical archaeology. Late last month the earliest known icons of Peter and Paul were announced as being discovered in the catacombs beneath Rome (they used lasers to uncover them: wicked kewl aye?), and now this. Unfortunately whether that alleged thingy on the slopes of Mount Ararat really is Noah's Ark is still anybody's guess. But hey: there should be some things we can't know for sure with just our physical senses...

...'cuz that's why it's called "faith" :-)

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Life-sized General Grievous costume

A few days ago this blog forwarded along a story about a full-sized costume of a Covenant Elite from the Halo video games. If that didn't stun and impress, maybe this one will...

A dude in Germany has built a costume of General Grievous from Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (as well as being featured in numerous other Star Wars works of fiction). Yeah you read that right: a General Grievous getup. And it not only looks incredible but it moves incredible! Check it out!

This guy has a longer video here that has more detail of the costume.

I bet he's gonna get slammed with requests from people to loan Grievous' help on Star Wars fan films :-P

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Better get some bloggin' done...

This is gonna be a wild and packed week ahead. Maybe even a surprise or two that I may be inclined to share. Just keep watching this space :-)

So while I was enjoying this Fourth of July weekend those industrious folks at Muppet Studios uploaded another new clip onto YouTube! It's der Swedish Chef in "Pöpcørn"...

I'd love to know if the Chef's hands are being operated by one Muppeteer or two. If it's two, that would make this clip even more impressive!

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Taking off for the Fourth of July

I'm gonna step away from the blog for the next few days. Will return Monday. Perhaps then I'll even finally be caught up on my movies for this summer (if there might be anything good playing...)

In the meantime, have a great Independence Day weekend y'all! But don't let it be just about fireworks and hot dogs. Freedom, after all, is never free.

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A thought regarding politics...

Politics, like sex and death, is terribly over-rated.

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Truth in advertising?

If a law firm's TV commercials boast that they "know the local judges", is that really code-speak for "We know how to grease the right palms"?

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