It's Getting Manny Down Here

My older boy has a group of friends who get together usually monthly or so for a sleepover. Around ten of them. Don't know how much sleeping goes on, they snack & game & watch DVDs & such. He wanted to host next weekend, but I heard how many and nixed that.

He persisted, if he could get the basement somewhat cleared out, could they hold it down there??? Well, two birds with one stone, get some clearing out done and have an area capable of holding 'em all!!! So, he had a few of the guys come over & I bought 'em a giant pizza. Probably can't tell so well, but the first picture is the pizza box pretty much taking up my trunk from wall to wall!!!

The back story on the basement pretty much is that if you have an empty space, you end up storing all kinds of things, things too good to just toss. In other words, of dubious value. I'd always kind of had the idea of cleaning it up and setting it up as the man cave down there.

On the other hand, a lot of the stuff end up damaged or totally obsolete, and aren't much worth anything anymore. Case in point, that sweet super 8 camera down there. Can you even get film for that anymore??? If so, have you got a projector??? Or you could just record & edit it with compact flash memory!!!

I liked the guys who were cleaning out!!! They had an appreciation & love for much of the vintage stuff down there!!! They found my long missing Super Mario Brothers 3 cartridge, then took an hour break to play it on the NES I'd pulled out & hooked up a few months back.

Personally, I wouldn't call it anywhere near useable yet, but it's a start. We've got many cool decorations set up now!!!!

My old Ferrari wall art....

My old lava lamp...

The TV case I'd had the old tube TV mounted in, with a vintage 70's knob tuner TV on top of it, and a old CRT monitor in it...

And a couple of old computer cases on a high shelf...

Not really so useable, but there's a cool built in desk, made back in the 60's probably, but like it was made to set up a desktop computer on!!!

And, finally, a thermoformed plastic head!!! Looks a bit like a mannequin, doesn't it??? Told you it was getting manny down there!!!

Dystopian Dance

So here it is, two posts in a row of cup art!!! Like there have been no other events in my life... This was inspired by a line from The Gaslight Anthem's "We Came to Dance"

We are the last of the jukebox Romeos

We are romantics by the light of the fourway

We came to sing out a chorus, reinvent the good times

And bring it all back home again

Honey, we came to dance with the girls with the stars in their eyes

Do the jump back, jack, stop and slide to the right

Never break their hearts, never make them cry, come on

Strike up the band, play a song that everybody knows

If I'm not your kind, then don't tell a soul

I'm not the one who hates bein' alone, so come on

And in this unstable arena

Of what's left or become of my America

I'm askin' this dance so come take my hand, come on

And in this unstable arena

Of what's left or become of my America

I'm askin' this dance so come take my hand, come on

Honey, we came to dance with the girls with the stars in their eyes

Do the jump back, jack, stop and slide to the right

Never break their hearts, never make them cry, come on

Strike up the band, play a song that everybody knows

If I'm not your kind, then don't tell a soul

I'm not the one who hates bein' alone, so come on

And if they end it all

By the end of tonight

If the big bomb drops down

Over this quiet Edison sky

We'll blow one last kiss

To all the beautiful nights like this

Under this central Jersey sky

Honey, we came to dance with the girls with the stars in their eyes

Do the jump back, jack, stop and slide to the right

Never break their hearts, never make them cry, come on

Strike up the band, play a song that everybody knows

If I'm not your kind, then don't tell a soul

I'm not the one who hates bein' alone, so come on

Cause you ain't never had a night on the town

Like I can show you such a night on the town

And you ain't never had a song you could sing

Well it's a deep dark night and I hear you, I've been there

And these are the songs that we sing

Oh, these are the songs that we sing

You've never seen a two-step

Like when you've seen it from your mama's house

Where the kids flash like lightning

To the very best dancers around

We learned from the very best dancers around

We learned from the very best dancers in town

Come take my hand, cause mama, we came to dance.

I'd always pictured a scene like this from the line quoted on the cup. A tree and shrubbery lined horizon, spanned by high tension wires (which, as pictured, encircle the cup), with that big bomb dropping down behind it. Of course, I enjoy the song. Along with this line, it also has the line, "And in this unstable arena, Of what's left or become of my America" gives this song a distinctly dystopian vibe.

Everyone at work likes it. Before I'd added the text, one of the guys I was working with recognized the mushroom cloud. I was glad for that, that it wasn't mistaken for a big red tree!!!

Around the side, I added in the river from another Gaslight Anthem tune, "Meet Me By the River's Edge", to offset the dystopia.