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the Big Stone Head thread!

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BIG STONE HEAD

T

The ebook is now available for immediate download.
The de-luxe bamboo thumb drive edition (seen in photos above) is now shipping as well.

[ Edited by: tikibars 2009-08-22 12:13 ]

This is the kind of wacky stuff that I dug up researching BSH, but that just wouldn't fit in the book.

Last year, a cheerleading competition was held with a tiki theme.
They called it Moai Madness.
The main awards were big carved moai.
smaller Hawaiian-style tikis were given out as lesser prizes.

From their myspace page:





http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewPicture&friendID=261192120&albumId=978872

Rob over at Chicagoist has posted a blog about Big Stone Head.

Thanks, Rob!

http://chicagoist.com/2009/08/26/tiki_e-book_brings_stone_age_into_t.php

Aloha,

JT,

Brilliant! Well done!

BIG STONE HEAD rules!

[ Edited by: Phillip Roberts 2009-08-26 20:03 ]

M

On 2009-08-22 11:51, tikibars wrote:
This is the kind of wacky stuff that I dug up researching BSH, but that just wouldn't fit in the book.

Last year, a cheerleading competition was held with a tiki theme.
They called it Moai Madness.
The main awards were big carved moai.
smaller Hawaiian-style tikis were given out as lesser prizes.

From their myspace page:





http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewPicture&friendID=261192120&albumId=978872

Funny you mentioned this event. I made them 2500 moai tiki pendants as their give away prize to each contestant. So, there are a whole lot of girls out there running around with Squid's Marcel Moai pendant!

Big Stone Head sample pages -

J

Hey James, I don't know if you've seen these. Just picked up a couple sets at Barnes & Noble last night. The tallest one is only 2" tall and they're made of some heavyish stone/resin mixture I guess. Much heavier than one would expect for their size.

Good to see some actual pages, James.
I recognized the Moai from this old print:

...in these avantgarde collages by Max Ernst:

I bet you have one or two from this series in the there, too.

I count three of 'em in the above pic!

Oh, OW...

If you have not purchased James's book "Big Stone Head" yet, shame on you. It is not only the one of the best books written on a oft covered subject, but is a milestone in publishing.

T

Sven - yes, Max Ernst gets a bit of ink in BSH. The scans you posted are both in the book, actually. I also go into Loplop, his birdman-inspired alter ego.

Jen - thanks for the image. There is soooo much Easter Island stuff out there, it is nearly impossible to track. At first I thought BSH would be a comprehensive catalogue of all of this stuff, but as I dug depper and deeper, I discovered that the almost 350 images in the book would merely have to be a representative sampling.

There is always more, more, more!

Maybe there will be a sequel that focuses on Witco moai, haha.

T
V

I was going to talk about Max Ernst. There's his collage works exhibited at the Musée d'Orsay in Paris right now. Really cool. I enjoyed it. Especially the Moai ones of course.
By the way, the Musée d'Orsay also have a few Gauguin and lots of the Impressionist paintings of course.

Here's the link in english to his collage presentation :

http://www.musee-orsay.fr/en/events/exhibitions/in-the-musee-dorsay/exhibitions-in-the-musee-dorsay-more/article/les-collages-de-max-ernst-20484.html?tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=649&cHash=bad29b67fc

[ Edited by: virani 2009-09-12 11:23 ]

T

[ Edited by: tikibars 2009-11-20 08:57 ]

Just paid and downloaded my copy yesterday
and lemme tell you!
it's a Beautiful thing!
Soooo many images to pore over
as well as an informative,enjoyable text!
Just got the first chapter done and
was overwhelmed at the great design,flow,and eye-candy on practically every page!
great job,James!

M

Hi, I was wondering if the mugs had been sent out yet? If so, are they being sent from CA or Chicago?

T

Hi everyone

Here's the status with the mugs:

Tiki Farm has delayed delivery of the mugs to me.

I am waiting for them patiently, and I hope those of you who ordered them will do the same.

As of today, they still haven't left Asia, so it looks like a Thanksgiving-ish delivery at this point.

The nanosecond I have them in-hand, they'll be passed on to those waiting for them.

Thanks for your orders!

[ Edited by: tikibars 2009-10-21 13:20 ]

On 2009-09-12 11:21, virani wrote:
I was going to talk about Max Ernst. There's his collage works exhibited at the Musée d'Orsay in Paris right now. Really cool. I enjoyed it. Especially the Moai ones of course.
By the way, the Musée d'Orsay also have a few Gauguin and lots of the Impressionist paintings of course.

Here's the link in english to his collage presentation :

http://www.musee-orsay.fr/en/events/exhibitions/in-the-musee-dorsay/exhibitions-in-the-musee-dorsay-more/article/les-collages-de-max-ernst-20484.html?tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=649&cHash=bad29b67fc

Oh, wow, cool! Max Ernst is one of my favorite artists. Thanks for the link. I love his paintings especially, he was way out there.

Re: hardcopies vs. e-books. FWIW, there are a number of printers these days that print books ridiculously cheap, with no minimum orders (ah, the wonders of the digital era, when expensive negatives and printing plates are no longer required).

A buddy of mine had a small batch of books printed through Catawba Publishing, and they only cost $5 apiece. They look great, they're about 8.5" x 11", 200 pages or so, with excellent printing (the book was all graphics, with lots of halftones). The cover is on thick glossy stock paper in full color...unfortunately the interior printing can only be in black and white at that price.

Just thought I'd pass that along.

I've never seen a book offered on a jump drive before, very interesting idea! The cover and interior sample pages look great! I plan to order one soon, good luck with it.

Re: the Stone-Head comic covers. I'm a newbie, and missed that thread. I'm a big comic fan, and am a big fan of the artist who drew most of those covers, Jack Kirby. Kirby is considered the 'King of Comics', because he drew more comic stories and created more characters than anyone else.

He was fascinated with the Moai statues, in his stories they often turned out to be aliens with their bodies buried in the ground. I believe he drew his first story featuring them in the late 1950s, and he'd return to that theme from time to time for the rest of his career. I am a proud owner of a page of original art by him from the last story he wrote and drew which featured the Moai, which he did in 1985. (it was one of the very last comic books he ever drew).

The mugs look great, I will be ordering one. One ebay I recently scored a Moai lamp, its green and cast in a semi-translucent material, with a small light bulb inside. It looks great lit up in a dark room.

When I first saw this thread, I thought it said "The Big Stoned Head Thread" and I thought it was about my cousin.

[ Edited by: Megalodon 2009-10-21 11:44 ]

[ Edited by: Megalodon 2009-10-21 11:47 ]

T

Iorana everyone!

Tiki Farm told me today, that after many delays on their end, they will finally be receiving the BSH mugs about ten days from now, and will then be passing them on to me.

Right now my target ship date is during the week leading up to Thanksgiving.

Thanks for your patience to those who pre-ordered,and the rest of you, get those PayPal accounts fired up, because the last few dozen unaccounted for mugs will be ready-to-ship very soon.

JACK KIRBY does ROCK!
Thanks James,for including him and his art in your book!

T

Hi

The first wave of mug pre-orders has shipped (December 2)!

The second wave goes out tomorrow (December 4)!
(it is nearly impossible to bring 100 boxed mugs to the post office simultaneously!).

If you have ordered a mug to date, it should be in your hands some time next week - it is on its way.

Thumb-drive eBooks, as always, are shipping immediately upon order!

[ Edited by: tikibars 2009-12-03 14:05 ]

[ Edited by: tikibars 2009-12-03 14:06 ]

Yay! I can't wait to get my hot little hands on that mug! Love the book and your lecture at Oasis, James. Well done!

T

[ Edited by: tikibars 2010-11-22 21:17 ]

Abebooks.com (which has to be the largest database of used books in the universe) has Easter Island books being profiled for easter - see below for the titles.
And here's a video featuring Wonder Woman having a fight to the death on Easter Island
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Terw61hSWf4&playnext_from=TL&videos=38DusvPnRVs

mysteries of easter island, Maziere, Francis

island of death, Wolff, Werner

Islands of Secrets, Machowski, Jacek

Island at the Center of the World, Englert Father Sebastian

Aku Aku, Heyerdahl

THE WEB OF EASTER ISLAND
Wandrei, Donald

Rapa Nui, Picker, Fred

Rediscovering Easter Island: How History Is Invented
Kathy Pelta

The Mystery of Easter Island
Katherine Routledge

Island at the End of the World: The Turbulent History of Easter Island
Steven Roger Fischer

Easter Island: Giant Stone Statues Tell of a Rich and Tragic Past
Caroline Arnold

Helvetiki wrote...(In tiki finds)

About two years ago i bought this wooden Moai figure on a flea market in Basel / Switzerland.

and I recently found this picture of Sophia Loren with the "premio Moai" (or Moai award) on the cover of a magazine from Chile.

My Moai figure looks very similar an has the same size, only the base is missing, but there are remnants of glue where the base was.
Probably a copy of "premio Moai" as a souvenir...?

How cool, eh JT?

T

This Sophia Loren image, in much better quality, is included inside Big Stone Head.

I love this shot a lot!
Finding it was so exciting.

There are also some reproductions from the inside of the magazine in BSH.

Last few mugs are left, and I have the thumb drives back in stock.

Holiday shoppers, now is the time!


  • James T.

Get my newest book, Big Stone Head at: http://www.bigstonehead.com

For Tiki Road Trip, Left Orbit Temple, global travelogues, and more, visit: http://www.tydirium.net

[ Edited by: tikibars 2010-11-22 21:21 ]

Aloha,

On 2010-11-22 21:20, tikibars wrote:

Holiday shoppers, now is the time!

I agree. Big Stone Head is a fine read. I am happy to own a thumb drive.

on the current affairs tic...

Trouble on Rapa Nui

T

Oh man, Phil, this pic of the Banana Pub brings back a lot of memories.

When me and Jen (DangerGirl) were on Rapa Nui in 2004 we (ok, me) had a few to many Pisco and Sprites there (yeah, that was the only drink they had available).

Somewhere here on TC there is still an audio clip posted of some drunken Rapa Nui kids ragging on Chile...

This book is crying out to be in Apple's iBook store.

On 2010-12-05 20:15, tikibars wrote:
Oh man, Phil, this pic of the Banana Pub brings back a lot of memories.

Where is that audio clip? I thought you'd like that photo...

Strife on Rapa Nui

Latest update on Easter Island.

Here's a photograph I took of a "Birdman" inspired metal gate on the outskirts of Hangaroa town in 2001.

Aloha and Happy Easter!!

This is the front of the candy shop in Hangaroa Town, Rapa Nui.

thanks, and same to you all!

old news by now, but keep an eye out in toy story 3 for this moai:

T

Well-spotted!

The moai meme continues to propagate...

G
GROG posted on Tue, Apr 26, 2011 9:34 PM

And we're going to have an art show in July featuring Moai art.

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?mode=viewtopic&topic=39690&forum=17&start=0



GROG miss Tiki-Kate

[ Edited by: GROG 2011-04-26 21:35 ]

J

This post is a looooong time coming and for that, James, I sincerely apologize!
Sometimes real life does get in the way of staying on top of TC posting!

Tongue biting is necessary, as this thread somehow turned into a "post whatever you find with a Moai in it" or "promote your own Moai-related product" thread. No finger pointing, though.

Why the **F___ ** haven't more people chimed in and discussed how absolutely incredible this book is??????
Does anyone realize how much blood, sweat and tears went into this project and how astounding the end result is?

With the relative scarcity of any really good books dealing with Tiki in a pop-culture context out there, this book should be right up there with The BOT, Tiki Modern, Tiki Road Trip, Night of the Tiki, Tiki Quest, Sippin' Safari (all of Jeff Berry's Books for that matter) and Jay's Tiki Mugs book as absolute must haves for any Tiki library worth it's weight in lava.

Kudos to Ken Ruzic for being the ONE(???) person to actually comment about the content!!!

There are soooo many reasons to own and digest this piece of work!!!
What are you waiting for??? Buy it now!!!!!
I guarantee you won't be disappointed and you'll ask yourself, "Why didn't I have this a long time ago?"

CA

book?

Aloha,

Yes, Big Stone Head is an awesome work by JT and a must read by all interested in the subject of Easter Island/Rapa Nui and the Moai in all it's forms. I had contributed some photographs and some ephemeral that didn't fit into the context of Waikiki Tiki. I bought this immediately on the bamboo zip disc and read it. I enjoyed it very much. Then, I got real busy with the final version of my own project and put it aside.

Recently, I added it to my iBooks library and have begun to re-read it. I am enjoying it more and more the second time, third, and fourth time around. Thanks James for putting out a great piece of work.

Best,

Phillip

On 2011-06-03 10:49, crazy al wrote:
book?

T

Ah, I just revisited this thread after a long time.

Jonpaul and Phil, I am really touched by your enthusiasm for this project.
Thanks a lot guys.

I did put a whole lot of work into it, and have a great affection for Big Stone Head.
It was a real labor of love.
In many ways, I like it better than Tiki Road Trip.

As for why this book hasn't received the attention that other tiki-related books have, I have always assumed it was due to the electronic format.
I know that some people aren't comfortable with electronic books.
As someone who owns several thousand books, I definitely understand the appeal of holding a paper book in one's hands.
But that said, part of Big Stone Head deals with how the Rapa Nui people completely deforested their island, cutting down every last tree and as a result nearly killing themselves off as a people.
Given this, I just didn't feel right about printing this book on trees!

Hope that those of you who have been holding out will give this book a chance.
Hey, it's only five bucks at http://www.bigstonehead.com!


  • James T.

Get my newest book, Big Stone Head at: http://www.bigstonehead.com

For Tiki Road Trip, Left Orbit Temple, global travelogues, and more, visit: http://www.tydirium.net

[ Edited by: tikibars 2011-11-05 16:06 ]

Congratulations, James!
I'm looking forward to a great read!
K.

Thanks K!

Hope you enjoy it, and remember (everyone else) that limited edition tiki mugs are your very best holiday gift value!

http://www.bigstonehead.com

aloha,

Thanks JT!

Hangaroa town is marvelous! BIG STONE HEAD is a great read!

T

I am intrigued by the moai-ish look of these BIG STONE HEADS to be seen in Prometheus, Ridley Scott's return to the A L I E N franchise.

This film is apparently a pseudo-prequel in which scientists go looking for the origins of man.

Given that premise, this big effigy may very well actually turn out to be a proto-moai!

(It's the holiday shopping season. Buy my Big Stone Head mug!)


  • James T.

Get my newest book, Big Stone Head at: http://www.bigstonehead.com

For Tiki Road Trip, Left Orbit Temple, global travelogues, and more, visit: http://www.tydirium.net

[ Edited by: tikibars 2011-12-04 12:04 ]

Aloha,

On 2011-11-28 17:01, tikibars wrote:
I am intrigued by the moai-ish look of these BIG STONE HEADS to be seen in Prometheus, Ridley Scott's return to the A L I E N franchise.

This film is apparently a pseudo-sequel in which scientists go looking for the origins of man.

(It's the holiday shopping season. Buy my Big Stone Head mug.)

Internet Movie Data Base

Was originally intended as a prequel to Ridley Scott's Alien, but Scott decided to turn it into an original film with Noomi Rapace (who was already set to star in the prequel) still in the cast as one of five main characters. Some time later however it was confirmed that while the movie will take place in the same universe as Alien, and greatly reference that movie, it will, for the bigger part, be an original movie and not a direct prequel.

That does look interesting. I am a big Ridley Scott fan. And I see Charlese Theron is in it... You might want to send Ridley a mug... Maybe he'll put it a scene or a corner of a space bar!!

Hangaroa town. Is that the City Hall? I can't remember.

BIG STONE HEAD!


Waikiki Tiki; Art, History, and Photographs.
Available now from Bess Press Hawaii.

[ Edited by: Phillip Roberts 2011-11-28 20:04 ]

T

So I just went online and bought the e-download and mug of this book. Will someone email me a link to download the book?

On 2011-12-04 10:52, tikifred wrote:
So I just went online and bought the e-download and mug of this book. Will someone email me a link to download the book?

When I bought mine I received an email later with instructions for downloading the book, but it wasn't immediate.

T

On 2011-12-04 10:52, tikifred wrote:
So I just went online and bought the e-download and mug of this book. Will someone email me a link to download the book?

Hi Fred

Yes, your email for the book download was sent, and your mug will ship some time this week.

Enjoy!

T

Thanks James- can't wait to get the mug. I'm enjoying reading the book on my iPad. Such an amazing story...though I confess it's depressing when you read about how the Europeans and the Chileans (then the American missionaries) treated the Rapa Nui. I'm only halfway through but I hope things get better!

J

Easter Island comes to Venice Beach...

There's actually a 4th Moai that I couldn't fit into the picture.

Off the boardwalk near Market St. They're part of the Venice Beach Biennial Celebration which started on Friday, July 13th so I'm not sure how long they'll be there.

Pages: 1 2 3 113 replies