The 501st Legion visits a really cool museum in Garden City, Long Island called the Cradle of Aviation.
Saturday, June 18th, 2011
If you’ve been following me at all, you probably know that I’m a Star Wars geek, and that I go to local events dressed in a Star Wars costume. Just check my photo albums here or on Facebook to see visual proof. You could also read any of my numerous blogs by clicking “501st” or “Star Wars” over there on the right under Categories=====>
The short version (for me anyway) to get you up to speed, is that I am a member of a group called the 501st Legion. The 501st is a group of geeks like myself who like Star Wars to the point of spending the time and money of creating professional quality costumes of the “bad guy” characters in the movie. (I also belong to the Rebel Legion which covers the costumes of the “good guys”. This particular event, I was a TIE Pilot “bad guy”, so I’ll focus on the 501st angle).
I realize there is a tendency to think of people who costume as loner freaks, but most of the people I’ve met doing this are sane and productive members of society – We have moms, dads, cops, firemen, lawyers, teachers, programmers, musicians, writers, artists, etc within our ranks. If we weren’t wearing a Star Wars t-shirt, you probably wouldn’t be able to pick us out of a crowd. LOL
One of my favorite quotes lately is “Just because my hobby is different than yours, doesn’t mean my hobby is any dumber than your hobby.” Plus our hobby has an outlet that helps make the world a better place. A large portion of the events we attend are charity events, and our costumed groups have helped raise well into the millions of dollars for various charities. And we bring LOTS of smiles to the kids who come out to our events and see characters magically come off the screen into their world. It’s a really cool feeling being part of this.
One thing that I should mention here is that it isn’t just Star Wars costuming groups that enjoy these benefits, but most costumers, be it Star Trek, Superheroes, Disney princesses, etc. (People who know my “wannabe marketing genius” mind are laughing right now because they know what’s coming next)
I am currently working on a new book that will hopefully be finished in early 2012. It will be all about the various costumers out there – How they got into it, Why they do it How they got their cool costumes,What their families and friends think, Cool stories while costumed, and everything in between. So basically I am looking to hear from any costumers who are willing to tell their story for inclusion in the book. So if you are a costumer, and have a cool story, email me at jameshannon@lantern-media.com and let me know. You can be any type of costumer (including anime, re-enactors, mascots, gorilla-grams, etc) – the only exclusion is that the book will be relatively family-friendly, so I probably won’t be using any adult-themed stories. Nothing against it personally, but as wise costumer Amber Love wrote in her Amber Unmasked blog, “there’s a time and place for everything.” :)
Ok, sorry for that tangent, back on target about the Cradle of Aviation event.
The Cradle of Aviation is a really cool museum on Museum Row in Garden City, Long Island. They’ve got a whole lotta exhibits on the history of flight – with a slant towards Long Island’s involvement in it. Grumman Corporation was a HUGE contributor of exhibits to the museum and there is some really cool stuff there like flight simulators, lunar landers, space suits, planes of all types, etc. It even has a Fire Dept museum and historic carousel on the property – See the pics below for a taste of it.. HIGHLY recommended by your pal James…
