Easy Disc Access

Here I am in 1986 playing Ultima IV. But check out the wall to my left; I used adhesive to affix floppy disc sleeves to the wall next to our Atari 130 XE. Handy. 

Here's what was likely going through my head at the time. 

Felled by Fellini

 

Do you mock me, sir? 

A few days ago, I completed a major reorganization of our theatre room. Yesterday, not content with my work, I set about re-sorting some of my discs and adding themed decorations to the shelves. 

Suddenly, something heavy fell from above, slamming right into the bridge of my nose. I was so stunned that I didn't even yell; I was too dazed. A second later, the pain hit; it was severe enough that I wondered if something had broken my nose. When I touched it, causing an even worse flare-up of pain, my fingers came away covered with blood. 

I scurried to the bathroom and tenderly applied tissue to the wound to stanch the flow of blood, then returned to the scene of the accident. There on the floor was my prized Criterion Fellini box set--the culprit. I must have jostled the shelves, and the set, which had been perched with other Criterion sets on high, tilted over and struck its blow. 

I have now secured the Fellini in a better position. I'm just glad it didn't fall on Sylvia. 

Thanks to Stephen for the inspiration for this post's title. 

Decora-SEANs

Sean was kind enough to send me some photos of where he's placed some Mom and Dad heirlooms in his condo. I love Sean's decor, so I'm really happy to be able to present some of his space. 

The desk above is many decades old, but still in excellent shape. As you can see here, it fits perfectly under Sean's kitchen breakfast bar, with enough froom to store his cookbooks on top. And it goes with his floor! I'm so happy this has a good home in the family, because this desk has been win our lives as long as I can remember. 

Here's the working oil lamp Sean brought home; again, decades old and still very handsome. 

Here's Granddad's forge, which I now suspect may have been used to create at least some of Granddad's tools. 

Here's a close-up of the forge crank. 

I wish I had Sean's gift for this sort of thing. Sylvia's half of the house looks great, but my man cave is basically a garbage dump, aside from the theatre room. Ah well, I'm working on it . . . 

Landing Party Gear

To create a little more storage space and home décor, I've been installing display shelves around our first floor. This new shelf is now home to my collection of Star Trek landing party equipment replicas. 
 

Aunt Jean's Chaplin

Our Aunt Jean--second-youngest of the four Etsell sisters--is a painter, and she's generously shared her paintings with family. This portrait of Chaplin has lived in Mom and Dad's house for several years, and now it'll live in our theatre room for a while. I hung the painting a few days ago, and just now I added a couple of shelves to host my collection of Chaplin films (along with a few others from the golden age of comedy). 

Thanks so much, Aunt Jean. 

Golden Age Friend Group

Today I installed a whimsical hanging shelf in my office crafted to represent a fire escape. Then I placed some action figures on it. These guys are members and friends of the Justice Society of America, the first super-hero team, its creation dating back to 1940. 
 

Shattered Sink Shards

Sean, Sylvia, and I went to Leduc earlier today to visit Mom. While uninstalling a light fixture in the upstairs bathroom, sean managed to drop the bulb he'd been unscrewing right on top of the bulb he'd unscrewed previously, shattering both bulbs into shards that filled the sink. It was pretty spectacular. After that, though, Sean really did a championship job of installing the new fixture. I helped a little, but Sean's greater height and reach meant he wound up doing the lion's share of the work.

The Empty Chair

Ce n'est pas un chaise
Lounging without burden
Ce n'est pas un photographier
But it is an image
Vide de sens
And empty of people

A Fan of Fans

Here's another thing I liked about Rockin' Robyn's: these cool double-bladed ceiling fans. They're the first thing Sylvia noticed. Is this the sort of thing I could buy and install at home? Because they're pretty neat. I also like the way the owners have mounted a Diamonds are Forever poster on the ceiling. Also, a double-bladed fan might make a cunning trap for Bond. Bond would defeat the gimmick in some way, of course, and quip:

"I'm not your biggest fan"

or

"I had to blow them off"

or

"It was a breeze"

etc. 

70s Still Life

Mom or Dad shot this photo of flowers set against glorious early 1970s wallpaper and drapes in our Flin Flon home. We had that end table for many years; I think we finally disposed of it sometime in the late 1990s.

Those of my friends playing Spirit of '77 should try to imagine our characters living with this sort of decor. It's actually kind of understated for the era...

Blue Christmas

Space Towel

Out of Gas

Sean came over last night to help me pick up and assemble my new office desks, a task that wound up taking six (!) hours. I'm profoundly grateful for Sean's help, and I was very excited to finish my office at last today...but I ran out of gas. Between Gaming & Guinness, the funeral, spring cleaning and work I just don't have the gumption to take apart the computer and set everything up again. But tomorrow is another story...

Ready for Halloween

Rocket Taps

I first spotted this amazing faucet in a movie or television show some years ago, and I was determined to find the make and model and purchase one for every bathtub and sink in the condo, even if I had to retrofit the sinks and tubs to make them work.

Imagine my shock when I discovered that these taps range from $2700 to $3200 each. For taps! I couldn't believe it. Is an affordable rocketship faucet too much to ask? Those price tags certainly signal "Taps" for my rocket taps ambitions.


Rocket Taps

I checked the prices out last night
Was expecting fifty bucks
But I had to cry at the sight of the price tags there

I want these taps so much, so does my wife (maybe)
Is this too much to ask?
A set of Flash Gordon faucets
Is my hopeless task

But I think it's going to be a long long time
Before I have enough green to make these faucets mine
I'm running hot and cold for them oh, no no
Rocket Taps

Rocket Taps
The gleaming chrome and retro styling turns me on
Your fins promise bath adventures far from home
But you're so very expensive I can't believe
Rocket Taps...

The Theatre in Our Theatre Room

NAPA Stools

Sinkful of Sean

The Earliad's audience jumps whenever I post about Sylvia, Sean, or Leaf Rapids. This post combines two out of three, so I'm expecting big numbers. Here's Sean in the kitchen sink at 8 Churchill Place in our Leaf Rapids townhouse. Note the garish 1970s colours: bile yellow countertops and puke green paint and curtains. It was in this very kitchen that Sean once threw a tantrum so severe that Mom tied him into his high chair with a tea towel - not before Sean managed to hurl his breakfast cereal onto the floor, though. Sadly, I don't have a picture of that.

Suspicious Sean

In early April 1976 Mom came home from the Leaf Rapids hospital with my little brother in tow. Witness my stunned expression at this sudden turn of events, and the suspicious look my new little brother is giving me. While it's true I would allow Sean to eat a cigarette and trick him into eating peppercorns some years in the future, I had as yet done nothing to warrant Sean's youthful wariness. Indeed, in the beginning Sean tricked me more often than not. Once, while I lay reading on the very couch pictured here, Sean climbed onto the backrest and leaped feet-first onto my ribcage, driving the wind from my lungs!

In the extreme foreground of this photo you can see the central component of a set of three matching glass-topped coffee tables. Sean's love of climbing onto things and jumping down very nearly had tragic consequences, for not long after jumping on my chest he decided to dive from the couch onto one of the glass side tables. The impact shattered the table, and Sean landed in a heap of jagged shards of dark green glass. Fortunately he was unharmed, and Mom evicted the tables immediately.

The couch lasted much longer than the tables. It moved to Leduc with us and resided in the family basement for decades. Eventually we had to recruit a bunch of my largest friends to remove the couch, for it contained a ludicrously heavy hide-a-bed. (Actually, my memories are mixed up - we actually hauled it away as detailed in this post. I must have been thinking of another piece of furniture.) I'm sure that couch would have stopped bullets.

Pop Culture Diorama

Last year I assembled this diorama to decorate the theatre room. Since then I've rearranged the whole room, and I've moved the diorama to my office, jiggling several pieces out of place in the process. Rather than put the whole thing back together the way it was, I think I'll switch out some pieces and create a new display.

For fun, can you identify each item I've enshrined in this temple of pop culture? If you think you can, post your answer in the comments. Whoever scores the highest earns the right to direct me to write a short story featuring any three of the items in question, said story to be finished before Christmas day.