Ghostly Scenes of Infernal Desecration (was 6 flags over hell)

Images up on site

2006-08-20T11:45:00.000-07:00

Many images taken exclusively for SRL are up on site now. And there's more to come! Keep checking them on the Ghostly Scenes of Infernal Desecration page

Image of the Screw Machine grabbing the audience barrier away by Neil Girling

The Rumor Mill

2006-08-15T12:06:00.000-07:00

Maybe it's more hip to require spoonfed information from a mole instead of fact-check for oneself these days but there was a silly rumor going around saying SRL was banning images and video of the event to be used on books, magazines, websites. How hilarious for writers to get righteously indignant over *SOMETHING THAT DIDN'T HAPPEN*. Har.

If this writer had entered the premises, he actually agreed to the totally reasonable request on a few signs that actually said "Photos, video, and audio of the event is permitted...." Now what band or venue says that! Though I guess it adds to SRL's rep for people to think we ask for something unreasonable and still be taken seriously enough that people whine about it no matter how ridiculous if they stopped to think.

Click for clearer version
Sign by Korntee!

Two signs like this were posted on the entrance to the event and each attendee received a handout saying the same thing. If they did not agree, they could have turned around and not watched the show. Though we suppose moles sneaking their way in have a high chance of getting things horribly wrong. There is a large buffer of SRL crew wannabes all too happy to claim their position in the organization to confuse people like that anyway. Maybe the mole had fun sneaking in and getting one up on Miss Babalou's security but the last laugh's on the mole for spreading bogus info :)

Show Title Finally!

2006-08-11T19:34:00.000-07:00

And it is:

GHOSTLY SCENES of INFERNAL DESECRATION

An SRL End of Days Production

Photo of Greg Leyh and 17 ft Tesla Coil by Scott Beale

YOU ALL MISSED IT! THE SHOW WAS GREAT!

Kidding! The show happening in a few hours!
Day: Friday TODAY in a few hours!
Time: 10:30pm (or pyro-clock)
Location: behind South Hall (435 South Market St San Jose)
See you all there!

San Jose!

2006-08-10T12:49:00.000-07:00

We've unloaded most of the machines on site!

No time for details but Flickr Set here

Dual Mules - A New Machine is Born

2006-08-06T01:06:00.000-07:00

The latest addition to the SRL machine inventory: the Dual Mules finally done! Mark Pauline and Jon Sarriugarte go over final details and Karen Marcelo puts in the bolts on the Dual Mule:


Dual Mule detail	Gull wing detail

Load Out II

2006-08-06T00:43:00.000-07:00

Dan Collard about to lift the V1 with the forklift

Karen Marcelo in a fit of silliness snaps a pic while holding up the strap for John Rogers to fork through to lift the V1 barrel

V1 is lifted on 2 forklifts

Jon Sarriugarte backs the truck into place underneath the V1. This is how you load a V1 onto a truck. Doug Sutton guides the truck in.

Jon unhooks the V1 from the forklift

A boy, his dog, and an Angry Inch	Chains on Screwy (Screw Machine)
Fermented urine	George Homsy Deviant informs Karen that he's fixed the Inchworm valves!

David Gessel works on the Conveyor To Hell

Violet Blue takes a break after directing load out all day

Courtney Sexton and Macki make silver balls for the Centaur to hurl

Macki lubes up the balls

Load Out!

2006-08-06T00:06:00.000-07:00

We've started moving machines to the site in San Jose!

Big Walker strapped and loaded

Big Arm ready to go

Jonathan Moore helps ease V1 on to the forks

Mark Pauline cuts off excess metal around Stairway to Hell

Karen Marcelo puts in metal toilet paper like rollers after Mark cut the sides off

Partially completed

We also lift the Hovercraft on forks to work on it:

Joanne hops off after securing Hovercraft on the forks	Mark Pauline marks holes to be drilled
Hovercraft clamped	Bob Taylor and Mark Pauline confuse Stan

Night Activity

2006-08-03T08:19:00.000-07:00

Doug Sutton and Sandra Lee leave after long day of work:

Big Walker up close:

Michael Shiloh and Terry Barsoom weld a stand for the Conveyor Belt to Hell (or was it the Stairway to Hell that Karen Marcelo has to put the belt around and oil) but didn't do instead drilled holes sloo owly for the stands instead.


	Oops look what Chip Flynn left behind:

Of course there's always time to set something off. So what that it's midnight:

As usual Mark Pauline works away till the dark side of morning but not before Bob Taylor gives Mark the alternative to coffee:

11 More Days Till Show Time!

2006-08-01T22:31:00.000-07:00

We are getting close to Load Out! Kimric Smythe has attached the 6-Barrelled Shockwave Cannon to his Tug and is armorizing it. The hood ornament will be something really protective like a baby's head.

Michael Shiloh tries to take apart this lovely little retro-Flash Gordon motor for the Conveyor Belt to Hell. Of course he can't do it by himself so Chris Bohren and Terry Barsoom demonstrate the Russian Dance method of taking old motors apart:

Babalou, David Calkins, and Simone Davalos Security Crew:

Some machines pulled out:

Shaker	Running Machine
Jaws which was last seen in face-off with the Inchworm in the movie Bitter Message of Hopeless Grief	This robot was driven by Stu Mark's guinea pig. The only animal trained to operate a SRL machine
The Air Launcher	Pitching Machine Ammo

Crew Gallery

2006-07-30T20:45:00.000-07:00

Babalou and Mark Pauline kick off this week's crew meeting	Jon Sarriugarte in front of the Pope and Double Dong
Joanne Bloomfield and John Rogers	SRL love

Endorsing each other (crew endorses crew/friends of crew via T-shirt):

Jon wears a Smythe Accordion Shop t-shirt and Karen has on an old Peoplehater one

Liam wearing F-Space and Liisa's Crime Inc (one of Sergio's)

Nina shoots the scene Mike welds something	Macki
It's dark in the shop. Big Walker on Mark's truck outside	Bob Taylor pops a wheelie

After hours some of the crew head over for some silliness over at Karen's party

Mr. Satan v2006

2006-07-30T20:24:00.000-07:00

One of the oldest machine props at SRL is Mr. Satan. We are resurrecting him by 3D scanning the old one and creating a new one out of that.
The original.

Click on this for a different, much larger view
This is the new one being tweaked on by Mark Pauline and David Gessel

Stack of sneakies next to the Inchworm and Chris Bohren giving Violet a hand:


Mark Pauline	Theresa Tranh cuts a pipe
Jon Sarriugarte and Mark Pauline go over Dual Mule parts	George Homsy works on the Pitching Machine
Michael Shiloh coding away in the Beaver Hut	Nina Alter and Sarah Boyd

Conveyor Belt to Hell and Other Props

2006-07-30T12:46:00.000-07:00

This conveyor belt to hell is the new prop Mark got. We are also digging out another *really* old machine that hasn't seen action since A Scenic Harvest from the Kingdom of Pain ('80s!) - the Stairway to Hell. Golden cow heads will be placed on the stairway, sent up to the top of the conveyor belt to hell, funnelled through it and into a new cow head 'processing' machine at the bottom. Will the audience have to watch out for splattered cow brains?

Violet Blue makes the lexan 'walls' to the conveyor belt for cow head processing/viewing pleasure:

Another view of the conveyor belt with the Pulse Jets on the Hovercraft and the new Angry Inch the Cyclops got after he was neutered last week:

Mark got this weird thing at HMR as well. Next to it, not really quite a Centaur, this thing still keeps being referred to as the Cyclops and amazingly everyone knows what everyone means:

Here's a better view of the angry inch and Joanne Bloomfield priming it for some red glitter. Just like a baboon (well maybe a Vegas baboon):

The legs of this devil go-go dancer and the top half hangs above the shop entrance. Unusual amount of wood by the door for what is normally a metal and steel zone:

Revenge of the pipes, Self-immolating Flame Thrower Prop

2006-07-25T01:14:00.000-07:00

Jonathan Moore makes a self-immolating flame thrower prop:

Bob isnt being really helpful while Mark tries to lift the Moriseiki by himself.

He decides to blow the spiders out the other side of our lovely metal pipe collection but the fire gets him in the face instead!

This is a prototype of Mark's wedding ring! Found amongst the pipes.

Dante's Porn

2006-07-23T01:17:00.000-07:00

Thanks to rotten.com who lent us this amazing edition of Dante's Inferno with Gustave Dore illustrations published in 1861. Nina Alter is scanning in some of the illustrations to make huge backdrops for the machines. Normally a book like this would be pretty expen$ive but some wannabe artist, used it to learn how to sketch and embellished the margins with some interesting graffiti. But if this pseudo artist defaced the book in the 1700s as well, would it still be worth more than $10? Unlikely though as the modifications were done in ballpoint. Fountain pens were invented in 1822 though so the pr0n could still be quite old though unlikely...

How to practice drawing an erection

Here Liam sketches out plans to convert this 6 foot shark cage into a booth for robotic devil go-go dancers.

More geekery. Ralf Board team: Dave Johnson, Michael Shiloh, Karen Marcelo and Jonathan Moore working on servos for the Dual Mules

Big Walker Gets Some 103 ° Sun After 9 Shady Years

2006-07-23T00:58:00.000-07:00

One of the bigger SRL machines, it was sort of complicated to pull out from where it was:

Mark moves the legs so it can be more easily pulled out:

Ironically, the last time the Big Walker was out, it was about 100° in Austin back in 1997. Today, it was about 100° in San Francisco and that's when we take it out after a 9 year hibernation in the shade!

You can see just how big this machine is with people standing next to it:

The shop looks bigger with the Big Walker out of there:

Despite hanging around this place for about 11 years, I've never seen this machine before! It's got a flat.

More Ralf Boards, Machine Shuffling, Pooping Baby Demo

2006-07-22T23:29:00.000-07:00

It's 103 degree heat at the shop today. Lots of topless men moving machines around. Mark Pauline shows Michael Shiloh the new Futaba for the Dual Mules.

The geek squad goes off for slight board modifications and coding (Michael Shiloh, Dave Johnson and Karen Marcelo:

Outside, the rest of the crew shuffle large machinery around so we can bring out the Big Walker! The Shockwave Cannon loaded on Mark's truck:

Courtney Sexton's got BALLZ! John Rogers moves the Kimric Tug out of the way:

Sam and John Rogers move the Large Flameblower out of the way. Next Mark asks for a dolly to roll the Big Walker out. John offers mark the dolly. But it is a burnt, headless dolly.

Mark shows me how son Jake is pretty much potty trained and this is how he does it. Brand new father, Jon Sarriugarte joins in with the pooing baby demonstration:

Crew Meeting and Walking the Roaches

2006-07-22T23:03:00.000-07:00

Mark Pauline kicks off this week's crew meeting with a warning not to put 800 pounds of Dual Mule on top of plastic sawhorses from Chinatown rated for 200 pound loads, and to always come get him when in doubt. 10 years Burning Man experience does not qualify. har.

Another fine spread for the crew from Amy Miller who whips up this stuff in her RV!

Peter Luka demonstrates his Roaches in action. He's making 100 of them (or as many as he can) to unleash them like a plague on the machines at the show to be trampled. They use windshield wiper motors. He and Liam take one out for a walk:

More injuries amongst the crew! Greg Jones' fingers were used to stop a drill press from spinning! Kevin Mathieu works on the Pitching Machine

12 Year 6-Barrel Shockwave Cannon Slumber and the Canadian Radio Board Wars

2006-07-22T10:38:00.000-07:00

Something that hasn't been pulled out in 12 years is the 6-Barrel Shockwave Cannon last run at the Doom Show in 1994! Kimric Smythe and Gxaoui pulled it out last night:

No SRL machine is complete without that *distressed* look. Here Mark and Joanne hose and grind off the last of that bright yellow:

A new prop was made. The cyclops has been neutered and the pegasus head was swapped into the cyclop's body to make a sort of reverse Sagitarrian torso. When we put it on the horse's body then it'll be a centaur.

Uncovered in the Book of PC Radio Boards from the SRL Bible, was an ancient papyrus circa 1990s chronicling one of the battles in the War of the Canadians.

Click to view more clearly

Big Walker Test Run #2, Dante's Inferno

2006-07-19T00:54:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Violet Blue we have some footage of the Big Walker being tested by Eric Paulos Monday night. Here, it is run by new operators Peter Luka and Courtney Sexton and here, it is up on blocks so it can walk in place!

Eric ran the this for the first time in 9 years last week and it started right up. Both the Big Walker and Large Flameblower hadn't been started since Austin '97 and it will be a treat for the crew to see these machines in action again after so long.

Dual Mule Part Making

Even the Marvel saw was taking about an hour to cut thick metal piece in two! So Bob Taylor holds up other round things out of boredom
Mark Pauline's serious about getting work done though Catman SRL's scrap metal and miscellaneous 'obtainium' supplier has been MIA since April.	We're using some awesome Divine Comedy images by Gustave Dore from the late 1800s courtesy of rotten.com image archive as lit backdrops.
Liam	Liisa

Miscellaneous Machines and Crew Geekery

2006-07-15T20:04:00.000-07:00

This is the Sparkshooter which I seem to be running the last few shows. It is a great machine to run: stationary so you can still check out the rest of the show and makes very obvious special fx when you set it off. See this photo of me operating it taken by Scott Beale at the Dangerous Curve show in LA last year (2005):

The Large Flameblower uses a Corvette engine for some serious firepower.

It also has pretty obvious special fx. It was last run in Austin 9 years ago!

Crew:

Doug Sutton and V1 Horns (with partial deer skull cap. It was an entire head though the rest of it is missing)	Karen Marcelo and SRL logo buddy Liisa Pine and Sabrina Merlo
Nina Alter gets on the table to work	Peter Luka and Mark Pauline go over Big Walker schematics. Peter is making 100 roach bots

Dual Mules and Injuries

2006-07-15T19:35:00.000-07:00

This is the new machine we are building for the show dubbed the "Dual Mules". They have a strange gait and will be expanding and contracting to make corners and such. They require 2 boards but will only use 1 Futaba.

Minor injuries for the day:

Oops. Amy Critchett backs into Nina Alter's jeep.	Sabrina Merlo's neck hurts. Babalou looks sympathetic?
Courtney Sexton grinds his elbow by mistake	Jake bit Mark Pauline's finger!

WE HAVE OUR PERMITS!

2006-07-15T11:49:00.000-07:00

All the t's are crossed, the i's dotted, 6 flags raised as of yesterday July 14. Get your tickets here:

http://www.artsopolis.com/zeroone/02.htm

Photo of Hovercraft and Running Machine by Karen Marcelo from 2002's Art of Extreme Robotics in San Jose

The Return of the Large Flame Blower and Mark's Other Art

2006-07-12T23:27:00.000-07:00

Not many people know that Mark Pauline actually did this kind of art before inventing Large Scale Machine Performance. This if I remember correctly was his first or one of the first things he made!:

The Large Flameblower was dragged out finally after not being run since Austin in 1997! It got it's first test run tonight after 9 years of hibernation:

Kevin Binkert wafts lathe steam for some SRL aromatherapy.

Macki shows off some Batman inspired disaster art

New Lathe

2006-07-12T08:05:00.000-07:00

Mark's new CNC Lathe arrived today!

Joanne Bloomfield has to deal with a giant tarp to cover it. She is amazingly good at taking giant tarps like this and folding them up into a tiny square. No wonder, she used to make elephant blankets!

Crew:
New dad Eric Paulos makes a shop-comeback working on the Big Walker

Chris Bohren through a pipe	Wendy Flybutter
Morgan works on the Bombloader	Sandra Lee
Brian Normanly the wise one. Knows where everything is in the shop. Can drive forklifts with a large sketchy load at an angle and have nothing go wrong.	Karen interrupts the electrical meeting that Kent Cates, Babalou, Brian Normanly are trying to have

SRL Machine Bible: An Interesting Assortment of Wonderful and Unusual Machine Schematics

2006-07-10T22:14:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Karen started digitizing the famous SRL binders of schematics and electronics notes for all the machines, appropriately named in the style of the usual SRL show title:

Just in time too as some of the pages were on FAX paper and were starting to fade! These 2 binders are the *only* copies and the closest thing to machine designs at the shop, all machines are built organically from Mark's head and evolve over the years.
This is a portion of an ancient Running Machine schematic from 1990:

And an old igniter (really the V1) schematic complete with skull:

A Book for every machine. From the Book of Sparkshooter 1:6 - "Thou shalt not die from 20,000 volt electric shock if thou shalt not stick thy hand unto the unlabeled area of death."

More Crew Shots:

Kimric Smythe demonstrates the meaning of the word heliofranticulate which is the feeling you get when you are leaning back too far on your chair and it starts to fall backwards but you save yourself at the last minute by flailing wildly.

Kimric explains the meaning of the word heliomasophile which is someone that constantly gazes at their navel. We ask him to give us an example of usage in a sentence and he says, "Those f*&ng heliomasophiles, stinking up the yard with their patchouli again." Violet Blue defends the shop against the heliomasophiles

Babalou entices the crew to keep working with a pound plus of chocolate.

Michael Wehner feigns surprise at the absence of heliomasophiles at the shop.

Photos from Karen Marcelo