Nerd Adventures

This weekend Anthony and I embarked on some of the nerdiest adventures in a while.  The past few weeks have been mostly about work, theater work, band work, and day jobs, so it was imperative that we take an afternoon to have an adventure.

This particular outing took us to the Seattle Center for the afternoon to the EMP (Experience Music Project) and the Pacific Science Center where they are hosting a Star Wars exhibit.

Our plan was just to go to the Star Wars exhibit, but when we got there we realized that we wouldn't be able to get in for a couple of hours (quite the popular deal in Seattle at the moment).  Fortunately, I had free passes to the EMP from a nice customer at work and we decided to visit that as well.  There were two awesome exhibits there.

First, the Nirvana exhibit.

I only got these two photos there because it was super dark and crowded.  It was interesting to see artifacts from the band because I can remember seeing them the first time around when Nirvana was playing.  They even had one of Kurt Cobain's sweaters from their MTV Unplugged, which was funny because that is one of the performances I remember most.

We then traveled upstairs where the Battlestar Galactica exhibit was held.  I forgot to mention that the other half of the EMP is the SFM (science fiction museum) and they also had a touring show from the tv show battlestar.

 

That was particularly fun because Anthony and I have been watching that show on and off for years. 

 

I think it's about time we finished watching, don't you?

Then, after some quick lunch it was time for the main event, the Star Wars exhibit.

 

 

 

The neat thing about the exhibit, beyond being a fanboys dream come true, was that a large portion of the exhibit was about how modern science is being influenced by what was created in Star Wars.  There were whole exhibits about real droids and new spacecraft technology that is being developed today.

 

 

 

 

The other thing I was struck by in seeing these props and costumes is just how creative these designers and technicians had to be.  Most of this stuff is not high tech, state of the art materials, but simply whatever they could find that felt right for the story.  Up close Darth Vader's costume doesn't look half as menacing as it does on screen.  These artists had to know how to make something beautiful out of almost nothing.

 

But the greatest moment of the day came when we got to take a ride in the Millennium Falcon.  No joke.  I thought our little nerd brains might explode when it came down to it, but we were very well behaved and made an excellent crew to the famous space vessel.

All in all a wonderful adventure had by all.  We've got a few more in the works for next weekend, can't wait to see what happens next!

I'm so happy that I don't even mind being Chewbacca.