Hayao Miyazaki’s Porco Rosso never saw theatrical release here in the United States, and since it was released after I left Japan, I had to wait 13 years to see it (when it was released on DVD in 2005). The movie was worth the wait, and I just love Uspez Morbo‘s interpretation of protagonist Porco Rosso’s seaplane.
See lots more pictures on MOCPages, including the highly detailed cockpit (complete with foot pedals!). Great stuff.
(Via YSAB.)
MisaQa wishes everyone a happy Valentine’s Day.
The Classic-Castle.com Vignette Storytelling Contest kicked off at the beginning of this month, and sets of four vigs are popping up all over the place.
Aaron Andrews‘ vigs are inspired by one of my favorite moments in the Monty Python canon — “Bring out your dead!”
(“I’m not dead!”)
I’ve always loved small submarines and submersibles. For a long time when I was a kid, I wanted to be an underwater archaeologist, riding around in a submersible very much like this one by Tim Zarki.
*ping*
*ping*
*ping*
“Turn on the floodlights! There, through the starboard porthole! It’s Atlantis!”
With a big bubble to see through and claws to pick up artifacts, this is a great little vehicle. Bonus points for not using any yellow.
After learning about a Halo vignette contest at Brickarms forums with less than a week before deadline, I impulsively decided to enter. I needed an idea, and what’s more dramatic than the final warthog run from the last mission of Halo 3? For those who haven’t experienced it, you are driving a warthog through an expansive and volatile surface trying to escape a giant explosion. Classic? You bet.
The warthog design is largely based off Legohaulic’s, with minor modifications.
Ralph Savelsberg (Flickr) builds things with wings and things with wheels. In an increasingly studless LEGO world (no pun intended), Ralph unashamedly shows his studs in his incredibly realistic vehicles. From a B-1B Lancer and Su-27 Flanker to an E-2C Hawkeye and F-15E Eagle, the level of detail is amazing. The camouflage on the Soviet Su-27 is particularly striking.
I’d bookmarked Ralph Savelsberg‘s amazing photoset of military aircraft on Flickr to blog later, but we have a bit of a backlog right now, so Ed Diment‘s reminder was very much appreciated.
Check out this amazing Predator bust by misterzumbi. Great use of those tentacles and nice work on the base as well.
One of my own. Not sure if I’ll enter this in the Steam Wars contest but I had a lot of fun making it. I hope it doesn’t need much description.
My first model in about a year is one for the Steamwars contest. It’s a steampunkified pod racer. Yay!
The Darling Apollo, here in the Machina Nosejob edition, is a craft without equal. Made of the finest wood and iron, it’s not only a beauty a look at – it also pack a mighty punch. The immense engines gives it a power of nearly five horses combined, but due to it’s hovering nature it handles terrain much better than the land-based creatures. At such dizzying speed the vehicle’s controller must be sharp-witted, precise and elegant – all prerequisites fulfilled by gracious driver Trenton Telgaard.
You can see more of it on flickr. Prepare to race!
Name: Dred Scott
Dates: 1795-1858
Biography:
Dred Scott was an African-American slave who sued for his freedom in the antebellum (pre-Civil War) period of United States history. Born as the property of U.S. Representative Henry Taylor Blow‘s parents, when the family had financial problems, Scott was sold to Dr. John Emerson. Emerson traveled frequently, including to states where slavery was illegal.
When Emerson died in 1843, Scott became the property of his widow Irene, whose brother John Sandford became the executor of her late husband’s estate. Attempting to follow the principle “once free, always free” (since he had traveled to states such as Wisconsin and Missouri), Scott sued for his freedom in 1846, financed by his former owners, the Blow family.
After 11 years of lawsuits, the United States Supreme Court handed down a decision, ruling that no person of African descent (regardless of their status as slaves or free people) could be a U.S. citizen, and could therefore never have the right to sue for their own freedom.
In the meantime, Irene Sandford Emerson had married a noted abolitionist, who was unaware that his wife owned one of the most famous slaves of the era. Irene’s new husband returned Scott to the Blow family, who were now living in Missouri and could therefore emancipate him. In 1858, Dred Scott died of tuberculosis, only nine months after earning his freedom.
Learn more: Wikipedia
