Star Wars Exhibit

I thought I would share some random photos from the "Star Wars" exhibit at the California ScienCenter mentioned in the previous blog entry. I'm not sure if I can say that the "science" in Star Wars is that accurate, but it's a great story/movie. If you click on the photos below, you can see a slightly larger image.



This is Luke Skywalker's landspeeder which is sort of like a hovercraft. In the era of computer graphics, it still nice to see a "hardware" model for an imaginary object.



This is a closeup of Luke Skywalker's prosthetic hand. Who knows? It would be beneficial to have mechanical body part replacements -- just in case we might need an extra hand.



Below is C-3PO with some of his internal wiring exposed. It's good that they still use color coding for electrical wiring in the future.



There were many models on exhibit of spacecraft that were used in the movie. This is a rebel alliance X-wing starfighter.



Master Yoda peers outward from behind the glass. For someone 900 years old, he's looking pretty good.



And this guy, I believe, is one of the snow creatures from Episode V.



And here's an Imperial TIE fighter from the evil Empire. Not sure what kind of propulsion system was used, but they're very fast and maneuverable (in the movie, that is).

Horny Furniture

Apparently in the 1890's, furniture made from cow and buffalo horns was a popular item. We just happened to be browsing through the Gene Autry Museum of the American West and noticed this exhibit. We wonder how animal rights activists feel about this one?

Yosemite Art

Over the weekend, we visited the Autry National Center to see an art exhibit focusing on Yosemite National Park. There's additional information on the website, but a highlight was seeing many of the original prints by Ansel Adams (one of my favorite photographers).



Hikaru (lower right corner) slept through most of his visit to the museum. Does the invention of photography give fewer reasons for artists to paint landscapes like the one below by Thomas Hill?