Category: personal info

Old Toys, New Toys

My Mother-In-Law has me figured to a tee. While sorting through her closet, she came up with this item, and thought that I might like it.

Step Into The Third Dimension

“Step Into The Third Dimension” not ringing a bell as a Price classic? I understand why you might be confused, as the credits make it seem like this is actually a dramatic production – it is not. That thing he’s holding isn’t a device to suck your soul from your body, it’s a 3D camera.

Nishika

Also, Nishika sounds like the name of a Russian-trained attack dog.

It takes two rolls of film, and to have them developed you needed to send them to a company that I can only assume is long defunct. I’ve seen indications online that it may be possible to self-develop the pictures, so I may have to buy a bunch of cheap cardboard glasses.

I found a reproduction of the instructional video on youtube, but I really want to drag out our actual VCR to get the full effect.

Steam Launch

I don’t usually do photo posts, but while at the locks the other day we came across a couple of steam launches moored for a lay-over, and I snapped these with my iPhone:

Steam Launch #1

A little smaller than The African Queen, but still an amazing piece of work.

Steam Launch #2They seemed to have to periodically warm the boiler – unseen in these photos is the pile of wood they were carrying to feed the fire.

Steam Launch #3Look at all those valves; I’ve never had interest in buying a boat, but the shear level of fuss-pottery that seemed to be involved actually makes ownership of one of these tempting.

Barbarian Arithmetic

Yesterday’s post got me thinking on the funny books of my youth.

When I was a kid, I used to pick up a lot of the magazine-sized Conan comics. I loved the gritty black and white art, and the general swashbuckling, but somewhere between thirteen and sixteen I came to realize that Conan’s largest problem year-after-year wasn’t actually the dark magic of Thoth-Amon, it was math.

The Savage Sword Of Conan

In the earliest issues, every fight was a concern. Conan fighting two people at once involved a lot of ornate cussing and some doom-talk from the narrator. The problem was, just as with televisions, there was nowhere to go but up: three, four, five people at once – his enemies began to look less like swordsmen and more like angry soccer teams comprised of late-’80s WWF wrestlers.

If the books are still running, I have to assume by now his enemies are facing him in lengthy, easy to trim, rows – or feasibly they march along in single file as Conan cranks a comically over-sized meat grinder.

Vincent Price's Menu

For my birthday a few years ago the lovely Jessica May ebayed me a copy of A Treasury Of Recipes by Vincent and Mary Price. It’s been one of the prides of my book shelf since, and occasionally we try out a recipe.

I recently mentioned it to some folks, who, understandably, immediately began referencing ‘eye of newt’ as a key ingredient – really though it’s a fascinating book, and an interesting bit of culinary archeology. I believe it was written near the end of Mary and Vincent’s relationship, and its easy to imagine their storied history spread across the international menus within.

A Treasury Of Recipes Cover - Vincent & Mary Price
A hefty cover for a hefty book.
A Treasury Of Recipes Intro - Vincent & Mary Price
A nice little essay explaining the important role food played in the Prices' lives.
A Treasury Of Recipes - Vincent & Mary Price - Sardi's Intro Page
Each restaurant gets a signature dish shot across from a little illustration and intro text about the Prices' experiences with the place.
A Treasury Of Recipes - Vincent & Mary Price - Sardi's Interior
A couple of recipes from Sardi's, across from a view of the restaurant interior and some classic New York exterior.
A Treasury Of Recipes - Vincent & Mary Price - Sardi's Recipes
We've tried several of the recipes from the book - not so much with the frogs' legs.
A Treasury Of Recipes - Vincent & Mary Price - Sardi's Menu
Another neat item is that each restaurant's menu is presented before the recipes - time travel and culinary snobbery in one.
A Treasury Of Recipes - Vincent & Mary Price - At The Prices' House
An interior shot of the Prices' dining area, for the intro to their personal favourites.