Museum Mania!

TOUR DE FORCE:  Yesterday afternoon we had the opportunity to tour Experience Music Project's special exhibition: Star Wars™ and the power of Costume. It opened Jan. 31 and runs through Oct. 4, and will go on a national, 12-stop tour after its debut at EMP.

In all, there are nearly 60 costumes from the 6 (so far) movie franchise on display.

One could certainly see the evolution of the costumes over time. 

Scary then, scary now: Tusken Sand Raider on the right.

I was surprised at how dirty this Storm Trooper's costume looked. He needs to hit a car wash. ;)

It was hard to get a good picture of Darth Vader. He was in a particularly dark corner of the exhibit.

 Usually when someone reaches out to you, it's a good thing. With Darth? Not so much ...

I spent the most time looking at the original Leia outfit. Simple, really, but compelling. 

 For whatever reason, all the mannequins used for display were grey. In my humble opinion, I didn't think that worked very well with some of the costumes ... like Leia's famous gold bikini.

This costume was absolutely stunning. Gorgeous, GORGEOUS dress. The photo doesn't do the ombre effect of the fabric justice.

 Annabelle fancied this costume and thought it might be good for Halloween. If she's serious, we better get started sewing it NOW.

 Queen Amidala sure had a lot larger wardrobe than Pricess Leia.

Amidala's wedding dress was lovely, but I think it sure would have popped more if it weren't shown on a base the same color as the dress. 

Oh-so-familiar uniforms ...

Chewbacca is one tall, hairy dude. Er, I mean Wookie.

Here's CJ's review of the exhibit ...

On March 19th, I went to the EMP museum where we saw the "Star Wars and the Power of Costume" exhibit, where we saw different outfits and suits worn by actors in Star Wars movies in the original trilogy and the prequels (not in that order, the original trilogy was upstairs). The C-3P0 costume was said to be designed after the Maschinenmensch from Metropolis, a 1927 silent classic directed by Fritz Lang, and the R2-D2 came in two forms when it moved in the prequels: It was either remotely controlled, or was moved by a dwarf on the inside of the costume. The signs also pointed out at the exhibit that the costumes in the prequels typically expressed more of a sense for fashion then the costumes from the original trilogy did, as once the dark side took power, fashion was pretty much thrown out the window.

REVOLUTIONARY:  While at EMP, we also made sure to check out another special exhibit there right now. I'll let Annabelle tell you a bit about it. ... 

On March 19, I went to see the "Indie Game Revolution" exhibit at Experience Music Project. The exhibit features different stations where you can play multiple different games from genres ranging from exploring the landscape to a competition between two players. The games were interesting and I didn't get time to look at them all, but the ones I did look at were very fun. One of the more memorable ones was a game called "Into the Woods," a game about a cat who lives in the city exploring. I didn't get very far into the game, but the art style and dialogue was very good. The next I remembered was Tenya Wanya Teens. It was a game where you press buttons to do things such as shower, play the guitar, or act like a bear in certain area and race against your opponent to do so. The game was very funny and random, and I liked it. Overall the exhibit was fun and I would recommend it.

The exhibit area was certainly a treat for the eyes.

Some of the games were really cool. 

Others were downright ridiculous.

Here are a couple of shots of the Tenya Wanya Teens game that Annabelle referenced in her write up.

You kind of have to love a game that is about "competitive teen awkwardness."

While at EMP, we also had to stop for a random photo opportunity. ...

LAKE SIDE:  Our first field trip of the day on Thursday was a visit to the Museum of History and Industry (MOHAI), on the south shore of Lake Union.

The kids immediately made a beeline for the big display of iconic Pacific Northwest items.

And we had to pay homage to the toe truck, too, of course. 

The kids each played with an educational slot machine.

It told about how immigrants came to the area to try to find their fortune.

A visit to MOHAI wouldn't be complete without watching the musical movie about the Great Seattle Fire. 

Naturally, we checked out items in the collection of iconic industry artifacts, like this original Starbucks coffee store sign.

And, of course, we looked out MOHAI's windows at the lake and boats on it.

We also checked out some sports memorabilia ... 


and some artifacts from the World's Fair in 1962.

We always enjoy our time at MOHAI.

UNDER CONSTRUCTION:  While roaming the grounds of Seattle Center yesterday, we learned about an exciting new feature soon to be open there - what looks to be a fantastic playground!

It looks like there's still a fair amount to do before it's finished.

A banner about the project said it will be done this spring, but it didn't give a specific date.  

The whole area was fenced off, but the kids found places to peek through.

 We sure are looking forward to the finished project!

In the meantime, we'll read more about it on the Center's Web site.

Tripping

POWER UP!: My, what a day! We took advantage of free passes from the Seattle Public Library's museum pass program and visited both the Museum of History and Industry (MOHAI) and Experience Music Project (EMP).

Talk about sensory overload. :)  

It's going to take me a minute or two to go through the dozens of photos I took, Stay tuned, and suffice it to say, it was a fabulous Thursday. 

Wanderers

SIGHTSEEING: We had some errands to run this afternoon, which included visiting the kids' former headquarters for a couple of weekly classes they took in Shoreline. There, Annabelle was finally able to pick up her last clay arts project, a pony, of course. She named it Spaghetti, because of its mane.

We also swung by Shoreline's King County Library location, and then took the scenic route to Mukilteo, driving along the waterfront for a good portion of the journey.

At one point, we stopped at a little park on a steep hillside, Haines Wharf Park, in Edmonds. We'd been there once before, more than a couple of years ago. It's easy to remember, because just off the shore are the remains of an old cannery.

Annabelle looked for pirate ships or anything of interest out there floating or flying around.

At the street level, this park has a really cool steel sign that shows you the names and elevations of peaks in the distance (the silver strip in the photo below). That layer of clouds was hiding much of the Olympic Mountain Range from us today, but it was still a lovely vista.  

Once we got up to Mukilteo, the kids played for a few minutes in their lovely waterfront park.

Below, Annabelle was spinning like crazy as a ferry passed in the background.

CJ was behind me on the swings. That's usually his favorite spot at a park these days.

It was so pretty out, I was kicking myself for not having a real camera with me. All of the above are crappy cell phone shots. :/

After the park, the kids enjoyed a fudge pop while sitting on the balcony at G&G's. They had a view of sparkling Puget Sound, while the Mariners played a spring training game on television within earshot. Talk about a pleasant afternoon.

GOLDEN SPACEWALK: Today marks the 50th anniversary of cosmonaut Alexey Leonov being the first human to conduct an extra vehicular activity - better known as a spacewalk. The photo on the right below was taken when Leonov, then 30, was outside of his capsule.

His space walking story was an amazing one, and in September of 2012, we had the absolute pleasure of hearing him tell it firsthand at a Museum of Flight event. What an experience that was! Here's a photo I took of him on that fantastic day. 


Leonov darn near didn't make it back from his spacewalk alive. Here's what I wrote after he shared that story with us in 2012:

He shared a harrowing account about his spacewalk during Voskhod 2, the first human to perform an extra vehicular activity (EVA).  He was damn near killed in a number of ways during the event. First, when he exited the vehicle the pressure inside his suit caused it to expand so dramatically that his hands and feet came out of the gloves and boots. He had to manually let air out via a hose (definitely NOT standard operating procedure) and then when he made his way back to his ship, his suit was still too big and he couldn't get back in. He struggled mightily, and said he was sweating so profusely he was blind. He finally miraculously made it back. 

CRAFTY: A couple of days ago, Annabelle had a Fred Meyer gift card burning a hole in her wallet. So, we went to the store and her first stop was the toy aisle.  I could tell there was nothing there that really captured her fancy, so I suggested she head to the arts and crafts aisle. 

There, within seconds, she spied a tub full of colorful beads, which are really tiny plastic tubes.

The beads can be arranged in patterns, and then you apply a warm iron and fuse them together.

When all is said and done, they look a little something like this. 

The one on the left is the head of Apple Jack, a pony from the My Little Pony franchise. Apple Jack wears a cowboy hat.  She's been having a lot of fun with the kit, $7.99 well spent in her mind. 

BEFORE I FORGET:  Here's a photo of the kids' daffodils, planted from bulbs last fall, blooming in all their glory. 

We planted some more of CJ's Trinidad Moruga scorpion pepper seeds today, too. Hopefully there's a lot of heat in our future!

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