The Malaysian Insider :: Showbiz
The Malaysian Insider :: Showbiz |
| Holy cow! Original Batmobile from TV series sells for US$4.2m Posted: 20 Jan 2013 08:33 AM PST  The original Batmobile on stage at the auction. — Reuters pics Rick Champagne, a Phoenix-area logistics company owner, came away with the black, futuristic two-seater featured in the "Batman" series starring Adam West and Burt Ward from 1966 to 1968, following a flurry of spirited bidding at the auction in Scottsdale, Arizona.  Shelli Mart in her Batman costume next to the Batmobile. The Barrett-Jackson auction was the first time the car was put up for public sale. In addition to the US$4.2 million bid price, the buyer will have to pay an additional roughly US$420,000 in premiums. The Batmobile is based on a 1955 Lincoln Futura, a concept car built in Italy by the Ford Motor Co. In 1965, the concept car was bought for a nominal US$1 by noted customiser George Barris, who had a mere 15 days and US$15,000 to transform the vehicle for the show. He has owned it ever since. Barris told Reuters he had supplied vehicles for movies and television shows before, but this one had to be markedly different than the others. "With every pow, bang, wow, wee, I wanted the car to do something just like the actors," said Barris, 87, in an interview before the auction. "The car had to be a star on its own. And it became one." The car has a V-8 engine and instruments in the steering wheel, plus innovative items such as a push-button transmission. But generations may remember it best for Bat gadgets added for the series, including a car phone and the ability to deploy such things as oil, smoke and nails to thwart villains — not to mention twin rear parachutes for quick Bat turns. Barris said the vehicle toured the country after the series and a movie and then was housed in a private showroom in California. He said it was time to part with the popular car and let a new owner have the Bat keys. — Reuters |
| No stars in ‘Star Wars’ jump into hyperspace Posted: 19 Jan 2013 10:50 PM PST  Han Solo, Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia would not see any approaching stars as they accelerate through the galaxy because of the Doppler effect, students at the University of Leicester said. – AFP pic Sadly – like a lot of things in sci-fi movies – that really wouldn't happen, a team of British science students have calculated. Han Solo, Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia would not see any approaching stars as they accelerate through the galaxy because of the Doppler effect, students at the University of Leicester said. This is the phenomenon by which the wavelength of electromagnetic radiation shortens or lengthens depending on whether the source is nearing or moving away from the person who is perceiving it. The classic example of the Doppler effect is the siren of a fire engine or ambulance, whose pitch changes relative to the bystander as it races down the street. Because the Millennium Falcon is speeding towards the stars, the wavelength of the stellar light would shorten, which means it would move out of the visible part of the energy spectrum and into the X-ray range, the students calculated. On the other hand, cosmic microwave background radiation—the backwash of radiation from the Big Bang which created the Universe 14 billion years ago—would lengthen in wavelength and suddenly become visible. To those onboard the Millennium Falcon, this ancient energy would appear as a central disc of brilliant light. "If the Millennium Falcon existed and really could travel that fast, sunglasses would certainly be advisable," said Riley Connors, 21, who worked with three other final-year Master of Physics students in an offbeat project aimed at stimulating out-of-the-box thinking. – AFP-Relaxnews |
| You are subscribed to email updates from The Malaysian Insider :: Showbiz To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
0 ulasan:
Catat Ulasan