April 28th, 2014 – Wedding Nuzzle

Wedding Nuzzle

A private moment on a wedding day on the California coast line…

April 21st, 2014 – Coin of Thrace

Coin of Thrace

Photograph of an ancient coin held in the Getty Center in Los Angeles. It is a Greek coin, made of silver, bearing the face of Alexander the Great, minted at roughly 300 BC.

April 18th, 2014 – Blood Moon Rising

Blood Moon & Spica

On the night of April 14-15, the moon turned to blood- or at least reddish as a total lunar eclispe occurred. This photograph was taken in Los Angeles, near the LACMA museum’s Urban Light installation. This is the first eclipse of the Tetrad, a quadruple set of eclipses that will occur during the next 18 months.

During a total lunar eclipse, the face of the Moon turns sunset-red for up to an hour or more as the eclipse slowly unfolds. Usually, lunar eclipses come in no particular order. A partial can be followed by a total, followed by a penumbral, and so on. Anything goes. Occasionally, though, the sequence is more orderly. When four consecutive lunar eclipses are all total, the series is called a tetrad. During the 21st century, there are 8 sets of tetrads; however, during the three hundred year interval from 1600 to 1900, there were no tetrads at all.

But why does the moon become a red blood moon? A quick trip to the Moon provides the answer: Imagine yourself standing on a dusty lunar plain looking up at the sky. Overhead hangs Earth, nightside down, completely hiding the sun behind it. The eclipse is underway. You might expect Earth seen in this way to be utterly dark, but it’s not. The rim of the planet is on fire! As you scan your eye around Earth’s circumference, you’re seeing every sunrise and every sunset in the world, all of them, all at once. This incredible light beams into the heart of Earth’s shadow, filling it with a coppery glow and transforming the Moon into a great red orb.

 
To the right of the photograph is the star Spica, the 15th brightest star in the night sky, (well, techinically, its a binary pair of stars).

The name Spica derives from Latin spīca virginis “Virgo’s ear of grain” (usually wheat). In Chinese astronomy, the star is known as Jiao Xiu 1 (角宿一). In Hindu astronomy, Spica corresponds to the Nakshatra Chitra. The 17th century German astronomer Bayer and others referred to the star as Arista. Classical names include Azimech, from Arabic السماك الأعزل al-simāk al-a‘zal ‘the Undefended’, and Alarph, Arabic for ‘the Grape Gatherer’. Other names for the star include Sumbalet, Sombalet, Sembalet Eleandri, Shibbōleth, Citrā, Sa-Sha-Shirū, Kió & Repā.

April 14th, 2014 – Mark VII

Mark VII

Another photograph from the Battlestar Galactica auction in Pasadena, California. This shot feature the Viper Mark VII, a new addition to the 2003 reimagining of the show, being the advanced model of the fighter craft of the Colonial navy. This screen used prop has a wingspan of 14′, measuring 30′ long by 13’6″ tall, with an approximate weight of 2,400 pounds.

April 7th, 2014 – The Statue of Santa Monica

Saint Monica of Santa Monica

The Statue of Saint Monica in Santa Monica is a often overlooked site in the beachfront city. After all, the city was named after the 4th Century mother of St. Augustine of Hippo. The statue stands at the end of Wilshire Boulevard in Palisades Park, facing inland from the Pacific Ocean. This shot was taken as the sun was slowly setting, giving the statue a halo- as befitting a saintly visage.

Saint Monica (312 – 387 AD) (or Timaniket in the Berber language, her likely ancestry), who also known as Monica of Hippo, was an early Christian saint and the mother of St. Augustine of Hippo. She is honoured in the Roman Catholic Church where she is remembered and venerated for her outstanding Christian virtues, especially the suffering against the adultery of her husband, and a prayerful life dedicated to the reformation of her son, who wrote extensively of her pious acts and life with her in his Confessions. Popular Christian legends recall Saint Monica to have wept every night for her son Augustine.

Fun Fact- Santa Monica was called Kecheek in the Tongva language, who lived there long before Europeans colonized the area.

April 7th, 2014 – Wil @wilw Wheaton at the 2nd Annual Tabletop Day Event in LA

Wil Wheaton at the 2nd Annual TableTop Day Event

On Saturday, April 5th, the 2nd Annual TableTop Day was celebrated worldwide- though the main event was in West Hollywood. Many of the Geek and Sundry stars were there, as well as hundred of people playing games and getting together.

One of the highlights was Wil Wheaton announcing that his TableTop show would be having a third season, and would be entirely independent. These photographs were taking during his announcement of the crowd-funding that had kicked off a few moments prior.

TableTop Season 3 Begins!

You can support TableTop’s Third Season here: http://www.ilovetabletop.com/ And you can watch the first two seasons on Geek and Sundry’s YouTube channel here: http://www.youtube.com/user/geekandsundry