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| Yes, despite being NO kind of 'brainiac' of ANY sort--- the 'ol Loydster DOES get a 'bright idea' every now and then! As I've said before, here on the bloggy-woggy-thingy-thang-- The 'tiny cube of GEEKYNESS' that is the 'Man-Cave,' is something of an 'organic' beast!-- Meaning things can sometimes be added to... OR taken out of it here and there, as time marches on! Keep on doing the 'readin' and scrollin', to see just what I mean! SOME of it really DOES have to do... with an actual set of LIGHTS! And-- a VERY 'bright' idea!!-- though it wasn't MY original 'bright' idea! |
Yes indeedy-do-da!!-- Some goodies have been added to my teeny-weeny little 'Loydster Museum of unashamed NERDYNESS'-- in recent weeks! Of course, by it being such a 'confined' type of space, the additional items have either been on the small side, or just improvements to items and furnishings already in there! A perfect example to kick things off, on this here post-- is a surprise 'late B-day' gift I recently received from my life-long buddy, Mr. Jeff Arnold!----
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| A while back, my 'brutha-from-anutha-mutha', Jeff --made a trip to the area around the Hollywood hills-- out in So-Cal-- and managed to visit the ACTUAL filming location for the opening credits on the old 'Batman' classic TV show! Known as 'Bronson Cave', it's also been used for other movies and TV productions over the years. BUT--- he and I are all geeked-out about it, for the obvious ties it has with the 'Bat-Cowled-Crusader' from our childhood! He told me he'd also managed to pick up a rock or two from the spot, as goofy / nerdy souvenirs. After that, I hadn't thought much about his trip there---until THIS little NEAT-O item arrived in my mail a few weeks back! Jeff made the little plaque that it's mounted to, and used his 'cricut' printer to do the lettering on it. Without a DOUBT, it deserved a place of HONOR within the 'Loydster-Cave'! What better spot could there be, than sitting right NEXT to the case that houses the Lego-'66 Bat-ride??!? |
Speaking of the Lego-version of the '66 Batmobile--- the NEXT little item was actually inspired by a comment from my daughter, Shelby! On a recent visit, she was taking a quick tour of the 'Sanctum', and observed how surprising it was, that I hadn't yet put a 'driver' behind the steering wheel of the car! 'The Batmobile NEEDS a Batman to be driving it!', she said! 'Well, a 6 inch action figure should easily fit right in there!' I somewhat 'over-confidently' spouted-off!
In my post back in January, about the (MOSTLY) finished-up 'Man-Cave'-- I remember mentioning the space to the upper right of my teensy-weensy little desk. How it was going to have to be a 'rotating exhibit' type of space, for a number of posters and other framed images-- that my little 'cube-of-nerdiness' just does NOT have adequate room for! At least, not for ALL of them at once.
Within just a short time, I was scoring a 'loose' 6 inch figure of the 'Adam West-version' of 'ol Batsy, off of E-bay--- and then finding out just how MUCH --uh, shall I say-- 'customizing' I would have to do, to get the little guy to actually 'sit behind' the steering wheel!---
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| When I said 'customizing' up above, concerning the 'Adam West' / Bat-guy figure--- I actually pretty much meant 'RADICAL-SURGERY'! To get the figure to fit into the interior of the 'Lego-Bat-ride', it required chopping-off a section of not ONLY his back-side, but a good-sized chunk of the back of his upper legs --AND- removing the lower part of his legs just past the knee joints! Thank goodness for the 'ol faithful rotary tool!--Or I'd probably STILL be chopping-away at the poor little guy! (I know, I know----I'm sure there are hard-core collectors out there, SCREAMING and jumping up and down, this very minute-- at my BRUTAL mistreatment of this poor 'collectible'!) BUT-- the results were worth all that effort (AND all that 'surgery' on poor little 'Adam'!)-- at least I think so! |
The next project I ended up tackling, was something I'd been kicking around, since not long after I finished-up the long-drawn-out process --that was setting the 'Man-Cave' up! A 'set-up' that was nearly 6 months worth of careful planning, and just sometimes TEDIOUS work! (ALL worth it though, no doubt in my mind!)
Another family member's remark, is what inspired the 'ol gears-in-Loydser's head to SLOWLY start turning! This time from my 'bonus-daughter', Chloe! On one of her earliest visits to check out my little secret-hide-out, she mentioned how VERY cool the room would look, if all the shelves and showcases were somehow lighted!
In the months since that conversation-- I kept returning in my thoughts, to how it WOULD definitely be a COOL thing-- to get lighting into all those shelves / cases! The question that kept stumping me was-- just HOW would I manage to do it??? I briefly considered the LED 'tape-style', and even the 'neon' tube-style LEDs-- but memories of the MAJOR hassle and amount of WORK it took to set that type of lighting up in the 'Cave before (ESPECIALLY the 'tube-lights'!!! ARRRRGH!), closed off THAT possibility!
A routine trip to a local 'Dollar Tree' store, turned out to hold 'the secret' to how it could actually be DONE!---
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| One of the 'stumpers' in my long-drawn-out thinking process about 'shelf-lighting', was just HOW to get lighting into each shelf-- without running seemingly MILES of electrical cords all over the already TINY amount of space in my little 'Cave! (One of the drawbacks to the LEDs I briefly considered!) Spotting a set of wireless / BATTERY-operated 'puck-lights' at a local 'Dollar Tree', I FINALLY started seeing a way to get the task done! I sat down and figured up the amount of BOTH-- how many 'pucks' I would need for the shelf-spaces, as well as-- how many batteries it would take to power them all! It came to 60 'pucks' and nearly 200 batteries! Another couple of months went by, before I could even START on this task! I would have to wait 'til I got my next 'bonus-check' from my job, before I could afford ALL of those 'pucks' and batteries, for one thing! Finally, after the necessary funds were available, I ordered-up ALL of those lights and batteries from good 'ol Amazon (if you're gonna do a CRAZY-sized project like THIS, ordering it all 'in bulk' online is pretty much the BEST way to go! Buying the lights alone, from either Wally-world or Lowes / Home Depot would've been INSANELY expensive!)-- then... after the wait (which seemed like an eternity!-- but, it was around a week or so!) for the 'snail-mail' to FINALLY deliver everything to my door-- I took a long, deep breath-- and went to WORK! |
The task took a few days to complete. BOTH-- because I wanted to do this RIGHT, as well as running into a few problems here and there. Mostly with getting the 'two-way' adhesive backing that came with the lights to actually STICK in a few spots! That's when a bit of super-glue, and even a few small screws helped things along!
At last though, the job was done! Boy-HOWDY-- it sure turned-out just about as NIFTY-NEAT-O-SPIFFY as I hoped it would! Below is the photographic PROOF! Unlike other times here, I'm just going to save my little goofy-geek-tastic comments for AFTER all the pics!--- (I'm assuming those faithful-few of you, who are checking this post out-- are of COURSE familiar with the lay-out of my little hidey-hole!)---
'Now Loydster,' you might be asking, 'aren't you the least bit worried about quickly burning-up ALL of the batteries for ALL of those 'puck-lights'?' The short & simple answer to that is--- 'nope'! This 'shelf-lighting' set-up, is just for occasional use. Mostly when, say-- company comes over. That's when I'll be utilizing them. So, when I want guests to be able to see ALL the 'goodies & gee-gaws' in the shelves and cases-- they'll be able to, with the simple popping of the button on a NIFTY little remote!
Like I was saying up above, the other recent additions to the stuff on display within the 'Sanctum, are pretty small! A perfect example: a couple of signs I put together, for setting up on the top of one the 'barrister' cases. They're BOTH only around 2 1/2 inches tall! Painted in nice, BRIGHT comic book-type 'primary colors' though, you see them RIGHT away as you enter my little 'GEEK-out space'! In fact, they're straight ahead of you--as you enter the room!---
If you peek inside and to the immediate right within my little 'media-nook' (the room's former closet, remember?), you'll see yet ANOTHER little (6x6 inches!) sign I made and placed in there! It's VERY simply made! Just a square piece of black foam-core posterboard, some ('bright blue') acrylic paint, and a few vinyl 'stick-on' letters! As well as a 'Bat-symbol' from an old toy package!---
I figure it's high time I threw the spotlight on those items! Although, if you've been following along here with me on the 'ol bloggy-thang-thingy-ma-rang for a while--you MIGHT 'sort-of' remember some of this stuff! I'm pretty sure I've shared pics of most of it, in old posts about my previous 'Man-Cave'--several years back!
At any rate--here then, are a few images of those WAY-cool posters & framed goodies! Including the first few I've already had on display here in my little 'Crime-fighting Headquarters'!---
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| The first few posters / 'neat-stuff', that have been on display in the 'rotation-spot'! The little group in the third pic, is the most recent set of goodies to go up. In fact, I just put them up in the last week or so! |
The next group of pics, feature the posters waiting in storage. My plan still, is to 'rotate' them into that same 'display-spot', in the 'Man-Cave'-- roughly every 6 months or so. Hey, stuff THIS neat-o, simply can NOT be left in a storage-shed, wrapped in cardboard! (I temporarily popped them out of their 'storage-state', to snap the pics below!--Am I a HOPELESS nerd-a-zoid, or WHAT!??)---
The last couple of 'things that are in storage-- but WILL be on display at SOME point!'--- A couple of (roughly) 8x10 images of Elvis and The Duke. These are 'art prints' of 'pencil portraits' I picked up at--- believe it or NOT-- an 'Everything-for-a-Dollar' store, (in the days BEFORE there was a chain of 'Dollar Tree' stores!) MANY years ago! Right at the moment, I don't even have frames for either of them! BUT-- the aforementioned 'Dollar Tree' will take care of THAT problem easy enough!---
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| The artist who signed these (just his last name) was a fellow named 'Adkins'. That's about ALL that I know about him! I do know that he HAD to be SUPER-talented though, because the likenesses on BOTH of these pieces is DEAD-ON! I will INDEED have these in the 'rotation-spot'--someday! |
Truly the current version of the 'Man-Cave', and the on-going tinkering that goes on within it-- as I've said before-- has become something of a hobby in itself! It sure has been FUN seeing the results of the little ideas / 'brain-storms' that come into that over-sized 'block-shaped' Ferrell-head of mine!
It DOES sometimes feel...as if the thrashing away to make some of these schemes and 'master-plans' happen, turns into what sometimes feels a LOT like, well-- WORK! As I was saying earlier in this post though.... ALL the work and thrashing is usually WORTH it! The BIG 'ol goofy-geeky-GRIN I get on my face, (sometimes, I even chuckle a little to myself!) most EVERY time I enter my little NERD-O-RIFFIC hidey-hole--- is PROOF of THAT!
See you NEXT time gang! Stay safe, sane, and HAPPY!
