"Monolithic" pop culture references #2

Ever searching for news about Rapa Nui, this blog's administrator comes across many references to Rapa Nui and its famous moai. Often, these references are quite comical and have nothing to do with the island or the culture of Rapa Nui. Other times, they appear to be speculative, based more on misconceptions than reality, or downright bizarre. Here are some of the more recent references:

T3:
To our eyes [the Philips SPA3200 and SPA2200 speakers] look like the spooky heads from Easter Island, but at £17 and £15 respectively they’re a steal.

Philadelphia Inquirer:
... actor Luis Tosar as Montoya, a drug lord [in Miami Vice] with a face as unreadable as an Easter Island statue and a growl almost as undecipherable.

Click here to read more "monolithic" pop culture references.

Sci-Fi adventure novel incorporates Rapa Nui into story

Xlibris Releases a Captivating Sci-Fi Adventure Novel
Source: Xlibris
PrimeZone
Jul 28, 2006 19:00

Visitors to Stonehenge, Easter Island and the Great Pyramids, tell of unexplained visions of a past world buried deep within the depths of the oceans. Can all these stories be only flights of imagination? The answers are waiting to be discovered as Xlibris releases Atlantis Artifactus: The Track of the Manlion, the captivating new book from veteran researcher Myron Morris.

Click here to read the full article.

Click here to read an excerpt from the book on the Xlibris website.

Questioning Rapa Nui's "Collapse" (article and podcast)

Easter Island: A monumental collapse?
Emma Young
New Scientist
Magazine issue 2562
29 July 2006

The story of ecological disaster on Easter Island seems to confirm our worst fears about human hubris, but is it really a morality tale for our time?

The above is from an article preview, which appears to critique the view taken by Jared Diamond, author of the best selling Collapse, who suggests that "the parallels between Easter Island and the whole modern world are chillingly obvious." Click here for the rest of the article preview.

Click here to listen to a New Scientist podcast of Terry Hunt and Carl Lipo discussing Easter Island with New Scientist's Ivan Semeniuk (mp3 file, 9MB).

New Anthology of Archaeological Travel Writing

Here's an article about a new release from Oxford University Press, From Stonehenge to Samarkand: An Anthology of Archaeological Travel Writing (Hardcover) by Brian Fagan, which includes references to Rapa Nui.

Writers on Ruins: An "Anthology of Archaeological Travel Writing"
Posted by Jim Benning
World Hum
7.25.06

Brian Fagan, Emeritus Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Santa Barbara ... reflects on how archaeological travel has changed over the years, and not always for the better ... But plenty of other ruins “still intoxicate” him ... including ... the brooding moiae of Easter Island, massive ancestral statues that ring the coast ...

Click here to read the full post.

Click here to read a weblog posted by Brian Fagan about compiling and publishing this anthology.

"Monolithic" pop culture references #1

Ever searching for news about Rapa Nui, this blog's administrator comes across many references to Rapa Nui and its famous moai. Often, these references are quite comical and have nothing to do with the island or the culture of Rapa Nui. Other times, they appear to be speculative, based more on misconceptions than reality, or downright bizarre. Here are some of the more recent references:

Washington Post Magazine:
We have all crossed our arms over our chests, and put on our best Easter Island faces.

Bloomberg.com:

The limestone "Head'' [by Modigliani] (1911-12) looks like an Easter Island monolith -- endless nose and tiny mouth -- crossed with a fashion model.

San Jose Mercury News:
That performance is shot with [Leonard] Cohen's great stone face in such weirdly static close-ups that it looks as if one of the monoliths on Easter Island has suddenly come to life in a David Lynch video.

Polynesians on Rapa Nui by 900 A.D.

First footsteps of Polynesians' ancestors tracked
By Bob Krauss Advertiser Columnist
Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Sunday, July 23, 2006

The Polynesians found the Marquesas and Tahiti by A.D. 700, Hawai'i and Easter Island by A.D. 900, and New Zealand by A.D. 1200.

Click here to read the full article.

"Petroglyphs of Rapanui" on display in Garnerville, New York

The only known comprehensive collection of petroglyph rubbings from Rapa Nui is on exhibit (by appointment) through September at the Garnerville Arts and Industrial Center in Rockland County, New York. Visit http://www.garnervillearts.com/ for details.

Art without borders
By GEORGETTE GOUVEIA
ggouveia@lohud.com
THE JOURNAL NEWS
(Original publication: July 23, 2006)

Across the Hudson River, The Garnerville Arts & Industrial Center, a kind of artisitic U.N., Inc. is the home of "Petroglyphs of Rapanui," nearly 100 impressions taken from images carved into bedrock on Rapanui (Easter Island).

Click here to read the full article.

Moai-shaped playground climbing monument

"Easter Island Leaning" from Monolithic Sculpture Inc.

GeoSculpt® Monuments, exclusively distributed by the BCI Burke Company, are scaled replications of famous natural rock formations or man-made icons. Our reproductions of artifacts such as Stonehenge and Easter Island add an enduring, recognizable character to any environment.

Dimensions: 7 feet by 5 feet
Height: 8.5 feet
Age range: 5 to 12 years old

Visit Monolithic Sculpture online:
http://www.monosculpt.com/

Read an article about a Louisian town installing the Easter Island Leaning in one of its parks:

West Park gets new attraction
By JULIE B. ROBINSON (staff writer)
Beauregard Daily News (Online from DeRidder, La)
Sunday July 23, 2006

The four GeoSculpt structures - Devil's Tower, Easter Island Leaning, Sandstone Flake and Small Delicate Arch, are geared for ages 5 to 12, according to Allen Shellenbarger, public works director.

Click here to read the full article.

Rapa Nui in Brides Magazine

Real Exotics

by Bob Payne

Photograph by Emilia Simonelli

Brides Magazine

July/August 2006 issue, page 466

If there is a symbol for the mysteries travel can bring us face to face with, it is not the ever-shrinking airline snack but the ancient statues of Easter Island.

Read the full article in the July/August 2006 issue of Brides Magazine (there doesn't seem to be an online version of the article).

Visit the Brides Magazine website:

http://www.brides.com/

Tiki Magazine's logo now a limited edition mug

This blog's administrator recently covered the release of this Tiki Farm mug in one of his other blogs (see below). Since that time, this limited edition mug based upon Tiki Magazine's moai-inspired logo (designed by Derik Yanegir) has sold out.

New Tiki Magazine Tiki Mug to go on sale soon

by Chris Osburn

Tiki Chris

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

See the original post:

http://tikichris.blogspot.com/2006/07/new-tiki-magazine-tiki-mug-to-go-on.html

Visit the Tiki Farm website:
http://tikifarm.com/zaniger_mug_ltd.htm

Meet Tiki Farm's Mr. Rapa Nui

Tiki Farm Mr. Rapa Nui tiki chiminea
by How Bowers
Tiki Talk
posted on Wednesday, July 19th, 2006 at 11:06 am

Tiki Farm, one of the finest makers of ceramic tiki mugs in the business, is now branching out into even larger ceramics. Their new “Mr. Rapa Nui” is a 42″ inch tall chiminea, which is a partially-enclosed backyard fire pit.

Read the complete post:
http://tikitalk.astropad.com/archives/tiki-farm-mr-rapa-nui-tiki-chiminea/

Visit the Tiki Farm website:
http://www.tikifarm.com/

Rapa Nui vacation extension added to Antarctica expedition cruises

Ncv Introduces New "Antarctica Cruise Extension Program" To Iguazu Falls, Machu Picchu, Atacama Desert And Easter Island
Travel Video Television
Jul 14, 06 11:43 am

On remote Easter Island, in the Pacific Ocean 2,340 miles west of Chile, participants take in the monumental stone sculptures (moais) along the coast, a quarry with 397 stone figures in the Rano Raraku volcano crater, the view from Rano Kau volcano, partially restored Orongo village, Ana Kai Tangata caves, Ahu Akivi ceremonial center and legendary Anakena beach. The pre-cruise tour adds one hotel night in Santiago.

Read the full article here:
http://travelvideo.tv/news/more.php?id=9225_0_1_0_M

Norwegian Costal Voyage's website with details about the Easter Island extension:
http://2006.coastalvoyage.com/elist/easter-island.htm