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By far the most downloaded images from Yunchtime are the astronaut and cosmonaut photos from the 1960 edition of Das Bildbuch der Weltraum Fahrt that I picked up in Vienna.  So I thought I should scan a few more.   This series features the extreme temperature tests conducted on U.S. spacesuits during the 1950s, and an astronaut getting the feel for handling the controls from his rocket seat.   The rubber gloves don’t look especially good for handling those knobs and switches, and the fact that the astronaut is stretched out like Plastic Man just to reach the controls shows you the state of ergonomics in those days.   The greatest thing about the rocket seat photo are the pilot’s lace-up shiny leather shoes.  DOH!  Mission Control, do you read?  I left my space boots in the locker at Canaveral, over!

If you’re into this sort of thing, check out our friends at SpaceFacts.   And some miscellaneous galleries:  Appollo Mission Photos,  NASA images, Today in Space History.

There is something strangely futuristic about the fashions of the 2009 Estetika and Wellness Fair, held this week in Bucharest, Romania.  A set of photos is floating around, depicting the weird loops and cascades of hair on display during the stylist contest.  Reuters blog snarks “Very 17th Century Brothel, Honey!” but it reminds me more of an SFnal flashback to the 70s and 80s.

Sophia and I were lucky last night because our friend, MaryAnn, scored some great tickets to the Preview show  of  “Two Men of Florence,” the first play by Richard Goodwin.   We ended up in the first row center orchestra seats, actually, right in front of the author.  Thanks, MaryAnn!

It’s an intriguing play, which pits the scientific passion of Galileo against the vainglorious pursuits of Pope Urban VIII, who attempts at first to bring a “dialog” of ideas into the Church — owing to his magnanimous benificence — but later realizes that he has accidentally opened the gates of Reason which threaten the very foundations of a Church built on absolutist devotion.   The sets of the play are remarkable, including a latticework of walls full of candles, and circular center stage upon which revolve the desks, chairs, and armatures of Galileo’s inventions.  A semi-transparent curtain is occasionally whisked around this center of action, sometimes serving as a projection screen, or an effective scene changing device.  The staging and movements are delightfully paced, with nary a figure making absurd entries and exits on wires or wheeled pavilions.

The performances were excellent as well,  not only the two lead actors, but also the supporting cast.  The Pope’s friend and confident , and Galileo’s daughter, were especially standouts, in particular the moments when the daughter sings in Latin.  Jay Sanders’ Galileo is fiery and sensitive, managing to convey his love of philosophy and the natural order of things without sounding snobbish or boorish.  The rich language provided by Goodwin really shines through here, giving Sanders a line like this:

‘The moon. Full-bottomed Eve. Crafted by God as comfort to the fugitive earth. Let me see if I can peek beneath the hem of your borrowed radiance.’

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My first impression of Arisia was one of sartorial richness, stirred together with equal parts of humor, history, literary allusion, and performing arts.  The non-stop schedule of movies, panels, gaming sessions, readings, parties and demonstrations got lost in the spectacle of costumed attendees swarming randomly around three levels of the hotel, and visible from any number of perspectives along the balustrades of the atrium.   Out of this dizzying scene the iconic image of this con, for me, was that of a black-clad woman with blonde dreadlocks, jacked up on really tall stilts, and moving hazily across the rippling lobby carpet while slashing playfully at people with her foot-long razor nails.

There were plenty of other costumes…indeed far to many to describe, except to say that the standard for corsets, ray-guns, battle-armor, cloaks, boots, scabbards, gowns, ragged wings, top hats, gloves, goggles, spats, walking sticks, holsters, capes, chain mail, and hardened-leather bustiere was conspicuously high!   This managed to fit in with some of the subtexts running through the con, such as hentai anime, freemasonry, and steam punk vs. cyberpunk.  And you could follow some of those threads on the con Twitter feed.

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