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Mark Racop was one year old when the series Batman premiered on television in January of 1966. The next year, the toddler vowed to build his own Batmobile. And he did, at age 17. But Racop didn’t stop there- he kept building more Batmobiles until he established himself as the Batmobile guy, building replicas of the 1966 Batmobile for a living! His crew, Fiberglass Freaks work out of a secret “Batcave” location in Logansport, Indiana.
Racop says that his occupation is more than just a job, it’s a mission. “I’ve been studying this car since I was two-years-old. I have over 5,000 photos, all 120 episodes on tape, and lots of video of the Barris cars in my archives. Yeah, you could say that I’m a little obsessed!” Racop says, laughing.
Racop has received official sanction for his fully-loaded, fully-drivable replicas. D.C. Comics has now licensed his company to manufacture official Batmobile replicas.
“Most of our customers are in their late 40′s or 50′s,” Racop said. “The kids are out of the house, they have come into some money, and it’s time to do something fun. They either like the 1966 Batman, or just loved the 1966 Batmobile. Either way, every guy between the ages of 40 to 60would love to have this car. This was their childhood dream car, just as it was for me. Some want a Batmobile to show off while picking up their kids from school. Others use them for charity events. Some have private collections, and others drive it nearly every day.”
“I say this with all humility: we’ve been very blessed with a very talented crew, and to receive this license from DC Comics is an absolute honor.”
Racop’s Batmobiles feature gadgets seen in the TV series, such as the Batbeam, a flashing red beacon light, a polished aluminum roll-top dashboard, electric actuators for the hood and trunk, a green flashing radar Detect-a-scope, and “rocket” exhaust pipes that spew two-foot flames!
An authentic 1966 Batmobile replica will set you back $149,999. For that price, you’ll have the coolest car anyone around has ever encountered. Find out all about them at Racop’s website, Fiberglass Freaks. Phone inquiries can be made at 574-722-3237.
Oh, you wanted to see some pictures? Feast your eyes!
Take 122 years of National Geographic history and distill the most amazing people, places, and things and you’ll get something like Melina Gerosa Bellows’ book Nat Geo AMAZING!
Links: Official Nat Geo AMAZING! Website | Amazon
Lovers of the weird and the wonderful – isn’t that all of you Neatoramanauts? – rejoice: not only did Neatorama get a glimpse of the book and TV series, we’ve also got 4 copies of the book to give away (more on that later). First, here are some of the neat things you’ll find in Nat Geo AMAZING!
"That’s the balance between life and death, and that is where life is"
- Eskil Ronningsbakken
Most of us seek balance in our lives, but few of us have turned it into an art form. Eskil Ronningsbakken is the exception, perfecting it even over troubled waters … on a tight-rope thousands of feet in the air. Sometimes he is on a bicycle, sometimes he is on his feet; often times he is upside down. Occasionally he glides above solid ground, dangling from a hot air balloon.
"Other people might see this as stupid, but to me it’s about being free and able to do what I want in my life," says the Norwegian, who has been performing for the past decade. Ronningsbakken is taking that message to the slums of Nairobi, Kenya, and the young Africans who live there. By teaching them acrobatics, he hopes to inspire lifelong confidence. "As a professional balancer," he explains, "you’ve got to be able to overcome fear. You’ve got to be at total peace with yourself."
Put a little extra happiness in your day with a dose of Mario! First a landlord, then a carpenter, then a plumber, and now a video game hero! Wait …a landlord? How did that happen?
Now you know more than you thought you’d ever need to know about Super Mario and the games he plays! This infographic is courtesy of the folks at Homeowners Insurance.
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Poster Boy is an anonymous New York City based street artist whose only utensil is a razor. He makes satiric collage-like works created by cutting out sections of the self-adhesive advertisement posters in the platforms of New York City subway stations and pasting them back in different positions. Many of these works have been collected in a book called Poster Boy: The War of Art.
“His cut and slash mash-ups of subway platform billboards only exist in New York City, but Poster Boy’s artful and funny appropriations of advertising have gotten him attention the world over. The New York Times dubbed him an “anti-consumerist Zorro with a razor blade, a sense of humor and a talent for collage”; the Guardian UK said of his work, it “is witty, web-savvy and economical…and the only materials it requires are chutzpah, imagination and a 50 cent blade.”
Poster Boy tweaks corporate copy, replacing it with incisive and playful puns and turns of phrase rich with innuendo and political punch. Beautiful models turn ghastly and iconic spokespeople become the mouthpiece for Poster Boy’s ideas.”
Advertisements are turned into political statements, which draw the eye quicker than the original ads. Poster Boy’s works force one to think deeper about the nature of what is being advertised. Neatorama has a few photographs from the 96-page book, which will be released July 6th by Mark Batty Publisher. Amazon is taking pre-orders now.
Back to the Future The new sci-fi made retro…again.
This summer, The Vader Project launches the final chapter of its four-year art odyssey. The iconic collection features 100 Darth Vader Helmets re-imagined by today’s most notable artists. Completing its epic world tour, The Vader Project returns to Los Angeles this weekend for a special ten-day exhibition in Hollywood as a preview to the upcoming Freeman’s Auction in Philadelphia.
The Los Angeles Preview Exhibition is free to the public with an opening reception on June 11 from 6-10pm. The show will also feature a 200-plus page, full-color, limited edition catalog that is being produced for the auction and is available for pre-order now at The Vader Project. On June 12, the space will present a catalog signing event with over 20 participating artists in attendance beginning at 2pm on June 12. The Los Angeles Preview Exhibition will be open June 12-20 daily from Noon to 6pm.
more …
On April 20, 2010, a mayday call from the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico reporting an explosion aboard signaled the beginning of one of the largest man-made environmental disasters in the United States. Today, the environmental, economic, and political repercussions of the oil spill are just being felt – but what happened the day the rig went ablaze, before the magnitude of the catastrophe as we know it today was clear?
National Geographic Channel obtained exclusive never-before-seen footage from the U.S. Coast Guard, NGC production crew and salvage company who responded in the chaotic first 36 hours following the explosion. From NGC’s documentary Gulf Oil Spill:
This unparalleled documentary of the first 36 hours includes coverage of the rig engulfed in flames, local vessels dousing the burning rig with water to stem the blaze and intense, close-up moments of the burning vessel sinking into the abyss. Coast Guard members speak emotionally about searching the seas for missing crew, and teams of mariners and engineers discuss trying to fight the fire at sea and save the vessel, ultimately to no avail.
“I could see the glow of the burning rig at 90 miles away,” says USCG Lieutenant Lim. “I knew this was big … like seeing hell on earth.” Added Kurt Peterson, an elite swimming rescue member who worked to save the rig’s drowning and injured crew, “I never had to deal with so many people at one time … since Hurricane Katrina.”
Salvage team masters describe their experience after working desperately to save the vessel and then watching it sink: “When you lose a vessel, it’s a somber moment. You feel the loss, you feel the failure … unfortunately for us, we were fighting a losing battle from the start. Unless that oil was cut off, there wasn’t really too much anybody could have done to prevent the eventual outcome that we witnessed.”
Finally, NGC interviews 23-year-old survivor Chris Choy, who says, “I kept thinking — we’re all dead … I didn’t know if I was the only person still on the rig or what.” He continues, “It’s something I’ll never forget, images just burned into my head .… We got together in a big group and we figured we were missing 11 guys .… We just kept praying that someone would find them.”
Here are some gruesome yet fascinating photos of the explosion that sunk Deepwater Horizon oil rig:
The off-shore oil rig Deepwater Horizon in flames off the coast of Louisiana. An estimated 126 people were aboard the Deepwater Horizon at the time of the explosion.
More photos: more …
The first thought that ran across my mind when I read Joel Sartore’s book Rare: Portraits of America’s Endangered Species
There are currently about 1,500 known species in the world that are endangered – Joel presents 68 of them in his book, ranging from wolves to wolverines, pitcher plant to pineapple cactus; all exquisitely photographed. As an amateur point-and-shoot photographer (erhm, that’s being generous – I mostly take blurry photos of my kids), I can only imagine how long it took him to get that Eastern Hellbender photo!
The second thought that ran across my mind was that it’s a rather sad book. One of the last two Columbia Basin pygmy rabbits in the world died a few months after Joel took its photograph (you’ll read more about this below).
It took me a while, however, to realize just what Joel’s book actually meant. For me, that meaning can be summed up in just one word: hope. Despite its weighty topic of the extinction of species, RARE manages not only to present the beauty and grace of some of the last members of animals and plant species on Earth, but also to touch its readers and (hopefully) inspire them into action. The last chapter of the book showcases animals that have stepped back from the brink of extinction through conservation programs like the bald eagle, the American alligator, and the gray wolf.
There’s a lot we can do to help save endangered animals – you know, reduce, reuse, recycle – but for many of us who have trouble engaging in the theoretical debates of biodiversity, carbon footprint, and so on, reading Joel’s book can be that first step to help save species from being lost forever: caring about these animals.
I’m proud to feature Joel’s book RARE on Neatorama, and hope that these wonderful photographs will touch your heart as it did mine.
(infographic by Online Schools)
Cats and dogs each have their good points and not-so-good points. Many of us like both, but if you could only have one pet, would it be a cat or a dog? Or would it be another kind of pet altogether?
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Our UPS deliveries usually have got a lot of neat stuff for the NeatoShop, but today’s delivery is a bit unusual. We got a mysterious box from Hasbro. Clearly it’s got something to do with the upcoming Iron Man 2 movie … but what? The box is sealed and we’ll open it tomorrow. In the meantime, would you care to wager a guess of what’s inside?
Let’s make it fun: we don’t know if we can give away what’s inside because, well, … honestly we don’t know what’s inside! There’s a good chance that there will be Iron Man 2 swags to give away to one or several lucky readers, but in case there aren’t: head on over to the NeatoShop and take a look at our selection of neat T-shirts (don’t miss the Science T-Shirts and the newly expanded Funny T-Shirts and One-Liners).
Tell us what you think is in the box. Enter your guess in the comment section. Be as funny and creative, but post no URL or web links, mmkay? (Doing so will invalidate your entry). One guess per comment, please, but you can enter as many guesses as you’d like. IMPORTANT: Please write your T-shirt selection alongside your guess. We’ll post the unboxing soon. Be sure to follow us on Twitter and Facebook to be the first to find out!
More photos: more …
Infographic by Column Five Media
Advancements in warfare and infantryman combat system have begun to blur the lines between war and science fiction. The United States Future Force Warrior program, for example, is bringing the power armor exoskeleton envisioned by Robert A. Heinlein in his novel Starship Troopers into reality. In this infographic above, Ross Crooks and Jason Lankow of Column Five Media imagined what soldier of the future would look like.
